Mar 4th

“Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘The appointed times of Yahweh which you shall proclaim as holy convocations—My appointed times are these:

‘For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation. You shall not do any work; it is a sabbath to Yahweh in all your places of habitation.

‘These are the appointed times of Yahweh, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at the times appointed for them.

In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight is the Passover of Yahweh.

Then on the fifteenth day of the same month there is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to Yahweh; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread.

On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work.

But for seven days you shall bring near an offering by fire to Yahweh. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work.’ ”

Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

“Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you enter the land which I am going to give to you and reap its harvest, then you shall bring in the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest.

And he shall wave the sheaf before Yahweh for you to be accepted; on the day after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.

Now on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb one year old without blemish for a burnt offering to Yahweh.

Its grain offering shall then be two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering by fire to Yahweh for a soothing aroma, with its drink offering, a fourth of a hin of wine.

Until this same day, until you have brought in the offering of your God, you shall eat neither bread nor roasted grain nor new growth. It is to be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your places of habitation.

‘You shall also count for yourselves from the day after the sabbath, from the day when you brought in the sheaf of the wave offering; there shall be seven complete sabbaths.

You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh sabbath; then you shall bring a new grain offering near to Yahweh.

You shall bring in from your places of habitation two loaves of bread for a wave offering, made of two-tenths of an ephah; they shall be of a fine flour, baked with leaven as first fruits to Yahweh.

Along with the bread you shall bring near seven one year old male lambs without blemish and a bull from the herd and two rams; they shall be a burnt offering to Yahweh, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering by fire of a soothing aroma to Yahweh.

You shall also offer one male goat for a sin offering and two male lambs one year old for a sacrifice of peace offerings.

The priest shall then wave them with the bread of the first fruits for a wave offering with two lambs before Yahweh; they shall be holy to Yahweh for the priest.

On this same day you shall make a proclamation as well; it shall be a holy convocation for you. You shall do no laborious work. It is to be a perpetual statute in all your places of habitation throughout your generations.

‘When you reap the harvest of your land, moreover, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field nor gather the gleaning of your harvest; you are to leave them for the afflicted and the sojourner. I am Yahweh your God.’ ”

Again Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

“Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘In the seventh month on the first of the month you shall have a rest, a memorial by blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation.

You shall not do any laborious work, but you shall bring an offering by fire near to Yahweh.’ ”

And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

“On exactly the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement; it shall be a holy convocation for you, and you shall humble your souls and bring an offering by fire near to Yahweh.

And you shall not do any work on this same day, for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement on your behalf before Yahweh your God.

If there is any person who will not humble himself on this same day, he shall be cut off from his people.

And as for any person who does any work on this same day, that person I will cause to perish from among his people.

You shall do no work at all. It is to be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your places of habitation.

It is to be a sabbath of complete rest to you, and you shall humble your souls; on the ninth of the month at evening, from evening until evening you shall keep your sabbath.”

Again Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

“Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘On the fifteenth of this seventh month is the Feast of Booths for seven days to Yahweh.

On the first day is a holy convocation; you shall do no laborious work of any kind.

For seven days you shall bring an offering by fire near to Yahweh. On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation and bring an offering by fire near to Yahweh; it is a solemn assembly. You shall do no laborious work.

‘These are the appointed times of Yahweh which you shall proclaim as holy convocations, to bring offerings by fire near to Yahweh—burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings, each day’s matter on its own day—

besides those of the sabbaths of Yahweh and besides your gifts and besides all your votive and freewill offerings, which you give to Yahweh.

‘On exactly the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of Yahweh for seven days, with a rest on the first day and a rest on the eighth day.

And on the first day you shall take for yourselves the foliage of beautiful trees, palm branches and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall be glad before Yahweh your God for seven days.

You shall thus celebrate it as a feast to Yahweh for seven days in the year. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month.

You shall live in booths for seven days; all the native-born in Israel shall live in booths,

so that your generations may know that I had the sons of Israel live in booths when I brought them out from the land of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God.’ ”

So Moses spoke to the sons of Israel the appointed times of Yahweh.

Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

“Command the sons of Israel that they bring to you clear oil from beaten olives for the light, to make a lamp burn continually.

Outside the veil of testimony in the tent of meeting, Aaron shall keep it in order from evening to morning before Yahweh continually; it shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations.

He shall keep the lamps in order on the pure gold lampstand before Yahweh continually.

“Then you shall take fine flour and bake twelve cakes with it; two-tenths of an ephah shall be in each cake.

And you shall set them in two rows, six to a row, on the pure gold table before Yahweh.

And you shall put pure frankincense on each row that it may be a memorial portion for the bread, even an offering by fire to Yahweh.

Every sabbath day he shall set it in order before Yahweh continually; it is an everlasting covenant for the sons of Israel.

And it shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat it in a holy place; for it is most holy to him from the offerings to Yahweh by fire, his portion forever.”

Now the son of an Israelite woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the sons of Israel; and the Israelite woman’s son and a man of Israel struggled with each other in the camp.

And the son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name and cursed. So they brought him to Moses. (Now his mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan.)

And they put him in custody so that the command of Yahweh might be made clear to them.

And standing up, He *went from there to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan; crowds *gathered around Him again, and, according to His custom, He once more began to teach them.

And some Pharisees came up to Jesus, testing Him, and began to question Him whether it was lawful for a man to divorce a wife.

And He answered and said to them, “What did Moses command you?”

And they said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.”

But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote for you this commandment.

But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female.

For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother,

and the two shall become one flesh; so they are no longer two, but one flesh.

And in the house the disciples began questioning Him about this again.

And He *said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her;

And they were bringing children to Him so that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked them.

But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them, “Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.”

And He took them in His arms and began blessing them, laying His hands on them.

And as He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to Him and knelt before Him, and began asking Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.

You know the commandments, ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’ ”

And he said to Him, “Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth up.”

And looking at him, Jesus loved him and said to him, “One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

But at these words he was saddened, and he went away grieving, for he was one who owned much property.