Tuesday, 04 June

2.   "If there is found among you, within any of your gates which the LORD your God gives you, a man or a woman who has been wicked in the sight of the LORD your God, in transgressing His covenant, 3.   "who has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, either the sun or moon or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded, 4.   "and it is told you, and you hear of it , then you shall inquire diligently. And if it is indeed true and certain that such an abomination has been committed in Israel, 5.   "then you shall bring out to your gates that man or woman who has committed that wicked thing, and shall stone to death that man or woman with stones. 6.   "Whoever is deserving of death shall be put to death on the testimony of two or three witnesses; he shall not be put to death on the testimony of one witness. 7.   "The hands of the witnesses shall be the first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So you shall put away the evil from among you. 8.   "If a matter arises which is too hard for you to judge, between degrees of guilt for bloodshed, between one judgment or another, or between one punishment or another, matters of controversy within your gates, then you shall arise and go up to the place which the LORD your God chooses. 9.   "And you shall come to the priests, the Levites, and to the judge there in those days, and inquire of them ; they shall pronounce upon you the sentence of judgment. 10.   "You shall do according to the sentence which they pronounce upon you in that place which the LORD chooses. And you shall be careful to do according to all that they order you. 11.   "According to the sentence of the law in which they instruct you, according to the judgment which they tell you, you shall do; you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left from the sentence which they pronounce upon you. 12.   "Now the man who acts presumptuously and will not heed the priest who stands to minister there before the LORD your God, or the judge, that man shall die. So you shall put away the evil from Israel. 13.   "And all the people shall hear and fear, and no longer act presumptuously. 14.   "When you come to the land which the LORD your God is giving you, and possess it and dwell in it, and say, ‘I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me,’ 15.   "you shall surely set a king over you whom the LORD your God chooses; one from among your brethren you shall set as king over you; you may not set a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. 16.   "But he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, for the LORD has said to you, ‘You shall not return that way again.’ 17.   "Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself. 18.   "Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one before the priests, the Levites. 19.   "And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes, 20.   "that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel.

1.   "The priests, the Levites––all the tribe of Levi––shall have no part nor inheritance with Israel; they shall eat the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and His portion. 2.   "Therefore they shall have no inheritance among their brethren; the LORD is their inheritance, as He said to them. 3.   "And this shall be the priest’s due from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, whether it is bull or sheep: they shall give to the priest the shoulder, the cheeks, and the stomach. 4.   "The firstfruits of your grain and your new wine and your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep, you shall give him. 5.   "For the LORD your God has chosen him out of all your tribes to stand to minister in the name of the LORD, him and his sons forever. 6.   "So if a Levite comes from any of your gates, from where he dwells among all Israel, and comes with all the desire of his mind to the place which the LORD chooses, 7.   "then he may serve in the name of the LORD his God as all his brethren the Levites do , who stand there before the LORD. 8.   "They shall have equal portions to eat, besides what comes from the sale of his inheritance.

1.   THE BELOVED I have come to my garden, my sister, my spouse; I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk. (TO HIS FRIENDS) Eat, O friends! Drink, yes, drink deeply, O beloved ones! 2.   THE SHULAMITE I sleep, but my heart is awake; It is the voice of my beloved! He knocks, saying , "Open for me, my sister, my love, My dove, my perfect one; For my head is covered with dew, My locks with the drops of the night." 3.   I have taken off my robe; How can I put it on again ? I have washed my feet; How can I defile them? 4.   My beloved put his hand By the latch of the door , And my heart yearned for him. 5.   I arose to open for my beloved, And my hands dripped with myrrh, My fingers with liquid myrrh, On the handles of the lock. 6.   I opened for my beloved, But my beloved had turned away and was gone. My heart leaped up when he spoke. I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer. 7.   The watchmen who went about the city found me. They struck me, they wounded me; The keepers of the walls Took my veil away from me. 8.   I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, If you find my beloved, That you tell him I am lovesick! 9.   THE DAUGHTERS OF JERUSALEM What is your beloved More than another beloved, O fairest among women? What is your beloved More than another beloved, That you so charge us? 10.   THE SHULAMITE My beloved is white and ruddy, Chief among ten thousand. 11.   His head is like the finest gold; His locks are wavy, And black as a raven. 12.   His eyes are like doves By the rivers of waters, Washed with milk, And fitly set. 13.   His cheeks are like a bed of spices, Banks of scented herbs. His lips are lilies, Dripping liquid myrrh. 14.   His hands are rods of gold Set with beryl. His body is carved ivory Inlaid with sapphires. 15.   His legs are pillars of marble Set on bases of fine gold. His countenance is like Lebanon, Excellent as the cedars. 16.   His mouth is most sweet, Yes, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, And this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem!

1.   THE DAUGHTERS OF JERUSALEM Where has your beloved gone, O fairest among women? Where has your beloved turned aside, That we may seek him with you? 2.   THE SHULAMITE My beloved has gone to his garden, To the beds of spices, To feed his flock in the gardens, And to gather lilies. 3.   I am my beloved’s, And my beloved is mine. He feeds his flock among the lilies. 4.   THE BELOVED O my love, you are as beautiful as Tirzah, Lovely as Jerusalem, Awesome as an army with banners! 5.   Turn your eyes away from me, For they have overcome me. Your hair is like a flock of goats Going down from Gilead. 6.   Your teeth are like a flock of sheep Which have come up from the washing; Every one bears twins, And none is barren among them. 7.   Like a piece of pomegranate Are your temples behind your veil. 8.   There are sixty queens And eighty concubines, And virgins without number. 9.   My dove, my perfect one, Is the only one, The only one of her mother, The favorite of the one who bore her. The daughters saw her And called her blessed, The queens and the concubines, And they praised her. 10.   Who is she who looks forth as the morning, Fair as the moon, Clear as the sun, Awesome as an army with banners? 11.   THE SHULAMITE I went down to the garden of nuts To see the verdure of the valley, To see whether the vine had budded And the pomegranates had bloomed. 12.   Before I was even aware, My soul had made me As the chariots of my noble people. 13.   THE BELOVED AND HIS FRIENDS Return, return, O Shulamite; Return, return, that we may look upon you! THE SHULAMITE What would you see in the Shulamite––As it were, the dance of the two camps?

1.   Then they came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gadarenes. 2.   And when He had come out of the boat, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, 3.   who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no one could bind him, not even with chains, 4.   because he had often been bound with shackles and chains. And the chains had been pulled apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces; neither could anyone tame him. 5.   And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones. 6.   When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped Him. 7.   And he cried out with a loud voice and said, "What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God that You do not torment me." 8.   For He said to him, "Come out of the man, unclean spirit!" 9.   Then He asked him, "What is your name?" And he answered, saying, "My name is Legion; for we are many." 10.   Also he begged Him earnestly that He would not send them out of the country. 11.   Now a large herd of swine was feeding there near the mountains. 12.   So all the demons begged Him, saying, "Send us to the swine, that we may enter them." 13.   And at once Jesus gave them permission. Then the unclean spirits went out and entered the swine (there were about two thousand); and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and drowned in the sea. 14.   So those who fed the swine fled, and they told it in the city and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that had happened. 15.   Then they came to Jesus, and saw the one who had been demon–possessed and had the legion, sitting and clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. 16.   And those who saw it told them how it happened to him who had been demon–possessed, and about the swine. 17.   Then they began to plead with Him to depart from their region. 18.   And when He got into the boat, he who had been demon–possessed begged Him that he might be with Him. 19.   However, Jesus did not permit him, but said to him, "Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had compassion on you." 20.   And he departed and began to proclaim in Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him; and all marveled.