Sunday, 07 April

1.   And the LORD said to Moses, "Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: ‘None shall defile himself for the dead among his people, 2.   ‘except for his relatives who are nearest to him: his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, and his brother; 3.   ‘also his virgin sister who is near to him, who has had no husband, for her he may defile himself. 4.   ‘ Otherwise he shall not defile himself, being a chief man among his people, to profane himself. 5.   ‘They shall not make any bald place on their heads, nor shall they shave the edges of their beards nor make any cuttings in their flesh. 6.   ‘They shall be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God, for they offer the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and the bread of their God; therefore they shall be holy. 7.   ‘They shall not take a wife who is a harlot or a defiled woman, nor shall they take a woman divorced from her husband; for the priest is holy to his God. 8.   ‘Therefore you shall consecrate him, for he offers the bread of your God. He shall be holy to you, for I the LORD, who sanctify you, am holy. 9.   ‘The daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by playing the harlot, she profanes her father. She shall be burned with fire. 10.   ‘ He who is the high priest among his brethren, on whose head the anointing oil was poured and who is consecrated to wear the garments, shall not uncover his head nor tear his clothes; 11.   ‘nor shall he go near any dead body, nor defile himself for his father or his mother; 12.   ‘nor shall he go out of the sanctuary, nor profane the sanctuary of his God; for the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is upon him: I am the LORD. 13.   ‘And he shall take a wife in her virginity. 14.   ‘A widow or a divorced woman or a defiled woman or a harlot––these he shall not marry; but he shall take a virgin of his own people as wife. 15.   ‘Nor shall he profane his posterity among his people, for I the LORD sanctify him.’" 16.   And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 17.   "Speak to Aaron, saying: ‘No man of your descendants in succeeding generations, who has any defect, may approach to offer the bread of his God. 18.   ‘For any man who has a defect shall not approach: a man blind or lame, who has a marred face or any limb too long, 19.   ‘a man who has a broken foot or broken hand, 20.   ‘or is a hunchback or a dwarf, or a man who has a defect in his eye, or eczema or scab, or is a eunuch. 21.   ‘No man of the descendants of Aaron the priest, who has a defect, shall come near to offer the offerings made by fire to the LORD. He has a defect; he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God. 22.   ‘He may eat the bread of his God, both the most holy and the holy; 23.   ‘only he shall not go near the veil or approach the altar, because he has a defect, lest he profane My sanctuaries; for I the LORD sanctify them.’" 24.   And Moses told it to Aaron and his sons, and to all the children of Israel.

1.   <> Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations. 0.   2Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever You had formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God. 3.   You turn man to destruction, And say, "Return, O children of men." 4.   For a thousand years in Your sight Are like yesterday when it is past, And like a watch in the night. 5.   You carry them away like a flood; They are like a sleep. In the morning they are like grass which grows up: 6.   In the morning it flourishes and grows up; In the evening it is cut down and withers. 7.   For we have been consumed by Your anger, And by Your wrath we are terrified. 8.   You have set our iniquities before You, Our secret sins in the light of Your countenance. 9.   For all our days have passed away in Your wrath; We finish our years like a sigh. 10.   The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by reason of strength they are eighty years, Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; For it is soon cut off, and we fly away. 11.   Who knows the power of Your anger? For as the fear of You, so is Your wrath. 12.   So teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom. 13.   Return, O LORD! How long? And have compassion on Your servants. 14.   Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy, That we may rejoice and be glad all our days! 15.   Make us glad according to the days in which You have afflicted us, The years in which we have seen evil. 16.   Let Your work appear to Your servants, And Your glory to their children. 17.   And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us, And establish the work of our hands for us; Yes, establish the work of our hands.

1.   He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 2.   I will say of the LORD, " He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust." 3.   Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler And from the perilous pestilence. 4.   He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler. 5.   You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, Nor of the arrow that flies by day, 6.   Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday. 7.   A thousand may fall at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall not come near you. 8.   Only with your eyes shall you look, And see the reward of the wicked. 9.   Because you have made the LORD, who is my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place, 10.   No evil shall befall you, Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling; 11.   For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways. 12.   In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone. 13.   You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot. 14.   "Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name. 15.   He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. 16.   With long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation."

1.   Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2.   through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3.   And not only that , but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4.   and perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5.   Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. 6.   For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7.   For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. 8.   But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9.   Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. 10.   For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 11.   And not only that , but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. 12.   Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned–– 13.   (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14.   Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. 15.   But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. 16.   And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. 17.   For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.) 18.   Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. 19.   For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous. 20.   Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, 21.   so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.