Monday, 29 April

1.   And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2.   "Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you have come into the land you are to inhabit, which I am giving to you, 3.   ‘and you make an offering by fire to the LORD, a burnt offering or a sacrifice, to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering or in your appointed feasts, to make a sweet aroma to the LORD, from the herd or the flock, 4.   ‘then he who presents his offering to the LORD shall bring a grain offering of one–tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with one–fourth of a hin of oil; 5.   ‘and one–fourth of a hin of wine as a drink offering you shall prepare with the burnt offering or the sacrifice, for each lamb. 6.   ‘Or for a ram you shall prepare as a grain offering two–tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with one–third of a hin of oil; 7.   ‘and as a drink offering you shall offer one–third of a hin of wine as a sweet aroma to the LORD. 8.   ‘And when you prepare a young bull as a burnt offering, or as a sacrifice to fulfill a vow, or as a peace offering to the LORD, 9.   ‘then shall be offered with the young bull a grain offering of three–tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with half a hin of oil; 10.   ‘and you shall bring as the drink offering half a hin of wine as an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the LORD. 11.   ‘Thus it shall be done for each young bull, for each ram, or for each lamb or young goat. 12.   ‘According to the number that you prepare, so you shall do with everyone according to their number. 13.   ‘All who are native–born shall do these things in this manner, in presenting an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the LORD. 14.   ‘And if a stranger dwells with you, or whoever is among you throughout your generations, and would present an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the LORD, just as you do, so shall he do. 15.   ‘One ordinance shall be for you of the assembly and for the stranger who dwells with you , an ordinance forever throughout your generations; as you are, so shall the stranger be before the LORD. 16.   ‘One law and one custom shall be for you and for the stranger who dwells with you.’" 17.   Again the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 18.   "Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you come into the land to which I bring you, 19.   ‘then it will be, when you eat of the bread of the land, that you shall offer up a heave offering to the LORD. 20.   ‘You shall offer up a cake of the first of your ground meal as a heave offering; as a heave offering of the threshing floor, so shall you offer it up. 21.   ‘Of the first of your ground meal you shall give to the LORD a heave offering throughout your generations. 22.   ‘If you sin unintentionally, and do not observe all these commandments which the LORD has spoken to Moses–– 23.   ‘all that the LORD has commanded you by the hand of Moses, from the day the LORD gave commandment and onward throughout your generations–– 24.   ‘then it will be, if it is unintentionally committed, without the knowledge of the congregation, that the whole congregation shall offer one young bull as a burnt offering, as a sweet aroma to the LORD, with its grain offering and its drink offering, according to the ordinance, and one kid of the goats as a sin offering. 25.   ‘So the priest shall make atonement for the whole congregation of the children of Israel, and it shall be forgiven them, for it was unintentional; they shall bring their offering, an offering made by fire to the LORD, and their sin offering before the LORD, for their unintended sin. 26.   ‘It shall be forgiven the whole congregation of the children of Israel and the stranger who dwells among them, because all the people did it unintentionally. 27.   ‘And if a person sins unintentionally, then he shall bring a female goat in its first year as a sin offering. 28.   ‘So the priest shall make atonement for the person who sins unintentionally, when he sins unintentionally before the LORD, to make atonement for him; and it shall be forgiven him. 29.   ‘You shall have one law for him who sins unintentionally, for him who is native–born among the children of Israel and for the stranger who dwells among them. 30.   ‘But the person who does anything presumptuously, whether he is native–born or a stranger, that one brings reproach on the LORD, and he shall be cut off from among his people. 31.   ‘Because he has despised the word of the LORD, and has broken His commandment, that person shall be completely cut off; his guilt shall be upon him.’" 32.   Now while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. 33.   And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron, and to all the congregation. 34.   They put him under guard, because it had not been explained what should be done to him. 35.   Then the LORD said to Moses, "The man must surely be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp." 36.   So, as the LORD commanded Moses, all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him with stones, and he died. 37.   Again the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 38.   "Speak to the children of Israel: Tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a blue thread in the tassels of the corners. 39.   "And you shall have the tassel, that you may look upon it and remember all the commandments of the LORD and do them, and that you may not follow the harlotry to which your own heart and your own eyes are inclined, 40.   "and that you may remember and do all My commandments, and be holy for your God. 41.   "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the LORD your God."

1.   By the rivers of Babylon, There we sat down, yea, we wept When we remembered Zion. 2.   We hung our harps Upon the willows in the midst of it. 3.   For there those who carried us away captive asked of us a song, And those who plundered us requested mirth, Saying , "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!" 4.   How shall we sing the LORD’S song In a foreign land? 5.   If I forget you, O Jerusalem, Let my right hand forget its skill ! 6.   If I do not remember you, Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth––If I do not exalt Jerusalem Above my chief joy. 7.   Remember, O LORD, against the sons of Edom The day of Jerusalem, Who said, "Raze it , raze it , To its very foundation!" 8.   O daughter of Babylon, who are to be destroyed, Happy the one who repays you as you have served us! 9.   Happy the one who takes and dashes Your little ones against the rock!

1.   << A Psalm of David.>> I will praise You with my whole heart; Before the gods I will sing praises to You. 2.   I will worship toward Your holy temple, And praise Your name For Your lovingkindness and Your truth; For You have magnified Your word above all Your name. 3.   In the day when I cried out, You answered me, And made me bold with strength in my soul. 4.   All the kings of the earth shall praise You, O LORD, When they hear the words of Your mouth. 5.   Yes, they shall sing of the ways of the LORD, For great is the glory of the LORD. 6.   Though the LORD is on high, Yet He regards the lowly; But the proud He knows from afar. 7.   Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me; You will stretch out Your hand Against the wrath of my enemies, And Your right hand will save me. 8.   The LORD will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy, O LORD, endures forever; Do not forsake the works of Your hands.

1.   <> O LORD, You have searched me and known me . 2.   You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. 3.   You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways. 4.   For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O LORD, You know it altogether. 5.   You have hedged me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me. 6.   Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain it. 7.   Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? 8.   If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there . 9.   If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 10.   Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me. 11.   If I say, "Surely the darkness shall fall on me," Even the night shall be light about me; 12.   Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, But the night shines as the day; The darkness and the light are both alike to You . 13.   For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. 14.   I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. 15.   My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. 16.   Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them. 17.   How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! 18.   If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When I awake, I am still with You. 19.   Oh, that You would slay the wicked, O God! Depart from me, therefore, you bloodthirsty men. 20.   For they speak against You wickedly; Your enemies take Your name in vain. 21.   Do I not hate them, O LORD, who hate You? And do I not loathe those who rise up against You? 22.   I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them my enemies. 23.   Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; 24.   And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.

1.   Now concerning the things of which you wrote to me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. 2.   Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband. 3.   Let the husband render to his wife the affection due her, and likewise also the wife to her husband. 4.   The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does . And likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does . 5.   Do not deprive one another except with consent for a time, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again so that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self–control. 6.   But I say this as a concession, not as a commandment. 7.   For I wish that all men were even as I myself. But each one has his own gift from God, one in this manner and another in that. 8.   But I say to the unmarried and to the widows: It is good for them if they remain even as I am; 9.   but if they cannot exercise self–control, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion . 10.   Now to the married I command, yet not I but the Lord: A wife is not to depart from her husband. 11.   But even if she does depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. And a husband is not to divorce his wife. 12.   But to the rest I, not the Lord, say: If any brother has a wife who does not believe, and she is willing to live with him, let him not divorce her. 13.   And a woman who has a husband who does not believe, if he is willing to live with her, let her not divorce him. 14.   For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy. 15.   But if the unbeliever departs, let him depart; a brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases . But God has called us to peace. 16.   For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife?