Bible Reading
April 22
The World English Bible
Apr. 22
Numbers 35, 36
Num 35:1 Yahweh spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying,
Num 35:2 Command the children of Israel that they give to the Levites of the inheritance of their possession cities to dwell in; and You shall give suburbs for the cities around them to the Levites.
Num 35:3 The cities shall they have to dwell in; and their suburbs shall be for their livestock, and for their substance, and for all their animals.
Num 35:4 The suburbs of the cities, which you shall give to the Levites, shall be from the wall of the city and outward one thousand cubits around it.
Num 35:5 You shall measure outside of the city for the east side two thousand cubits, and for the south side two thousand cubits, and for the west side two thousand cubits, and for the north side two thousand cubits, the city being in the midst. This shall be to them the suburbs of the cities.
Num 35:6 The cities which you shall give to the Levites, they shall be the six cities of refuge, which you shall give for the manslayer to flee to: and besides them you shall give forty-two cities.
Num 35:7 All the cities which you shall give to the Levites shall be forty-eight cities together with their suburbs.
Num 35:8 Concerning the cities which you shall give of the possession of the children of Israel, from the many you shall take many; and from the few you shall take few: everyone according to his inheritance which he inherits shall give of his cities to the Levites.
Num 35:9 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
Num 35:10 Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, When you pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan,
Num 35:11 then you shall appoint you cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the manslayer who kills any person unwittingly may flee there.
Num 35:12 The cities shall be to you for refuge from the avenger, that the manslayer not die, until he stands before the congregation for judgment.
Num 35:13 The cities which you shall give shall be for you six cities of refuge.
Num 35:14 You shall give three cities beyond the Jordan, and you shall give three cities in the land of Canaan; they shall be cities of refuge.
Num 35:15 For the children of Israel, and for the stranger and for the foreigner living among them, shall these six cities be for refuge; that everyone who kills any person unwittingly may flee there.
Num 35:16 But if he struck him with an instrument of iron, so that he died, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death.
Num 35:17 If he struck him with a stone in the hand, by which a man may die, and he died, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death.
Num 35:18 Or if he struck him with a weapon of wood in the hand, by which a man may die, and he died, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death.
Num 35:19 The avenger of blood shall himself put the murderer to death: when he meets him, he shall put him to death.
Num 35:20 If he thrust him of hatred, or hurled at him, lying in wait, so that he died,
Num 35:21 or in enmity struck him with his hand, so that he died; he who struck him shall surely be put to death; he is a murderer: the avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death, when he meets him.
Num 35:22 But if he thrust him suddenly without enmity, or hurled on him anything without lying in wait,
Num 35:23 or with any stone, by which a man may die, not seeing him, and cast it on him, so that he died, and he was not his enemy, neither sought his harm;
Num 35:24 then the congregation shall judge between the striker and the avenger of blood according to these ordinances;
Num 35:25 and the congregation shall deliver the manslayer out of the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall restore him to his city of refuge, where he was fled: and he shall dwell therein until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the holy oil.
Num 35:26 But if the manslayer shall at any time go beyond the border of his city of refuge, where he flees,
Num 35:27 and the avenger of blood find him outside of the border of his city of refuge, and the avenger of blood kill the manslayer; he shall not be guilty of blood,
Num 35:28 because he should have remained in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest: but after the death of the high priest the manslayer shall return into the land of his possession.
Num 35:29 These things shall be for a statute and ordinance to you throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
Num 35:30 Whoever kills any person, the murderer shall be slain at the mouth of witnesses: but one witness shall not testify against any person that he die.
Num 35:31 Moreover you shall take no ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death; but he shall surely be put to death.
Num 35:32 You shall take no ransom for him who is fled to his city of refuge, that he may come again to dwell in the land, until the death of the priest.
Num 35:33 So you shall not pollute the land in which you are: for blood, it pollutes the land; and no expiation can be made for the land for the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him who shed it.
Num 35:34 You shall not defile the land which you inhabit, in the midst of which I dwell: for I, Yahweh, dwell in the midst of the children of Israel.
Num 36:1 The heads of the fathers' houses of the family of the children of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of the sons of Joseph, came near, and spoke before Moses, and before the princes, the heads of the fathers' houses of the children of Israel:
Num 36:2 and they said, Yahweh commanded my lord to give the land for inheritance by lot to the children of Israel: and my lord was commanded by Yahweh to give the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother to his daughters.
Num 36:3 If they be married to any of the sons of the other tribes of the children of Israel, then will their inheritance be taken away from the inheritance of our fathers, and will be added to the inheritance of the tribe whereunto they shall belong: so will it be taken away from the lot of our inheritance.
Num 36:4 When the jubilee of the children of Israel shall be, then will their inheritance be added to the inheritance of the tribe whereunto they shall belong: so will their inheritance be taken away from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers.
Num 36:5 Moses commanded the children of Israel according to the word of Yahweh, saying, The tribe of the sons of Joseph speaks right.
Num 36:6 This is the thing which Yahweh does command concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, Let them be married to whom they think best; only into the family of the tribe of their father shall they be married.
Num 36:7 So shall no inheritance of the children of Israel remove from tribe to tribe; for the children of Israel shall cleave everyone to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers.
Num 36:8 Every daughter, who possesses an inheritance in any tribe of the children of Israel, shall be wife to one of the family of the tribe of her father, that the children of Israel may possess every man the inheritance of his fathers.
Num 36:9 So shall no inheritance remove from one tribe to another tribe; for the tribes of the children of Israel shall cleave everyone to his own inheritance.
Num 36:10 Even as Yahweh commanded Moses, so did the daughters of Zelophehad:
Num 36:11 for Mahlah, Tirzah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, were married to their father's brothers' sons.
Num 36:12 They were married into the families of the sons of Manasseh the son of Joseph; and their inheritance remained in the tribe of the family of their father.
Num 36:13 These are the commandments and the ordinances which Yahweh commanded by Moses to the children of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.
Apr. 22, 23
Luke 13
Luk 13:1 Now there were some present at the same time who told him about the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.
Luk 13:2 Jesus answered them, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered such things?
Luk 13:3 I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all perish in the same way.
Luk 13:4 Or those eighteen, on whom the tower in Siloam fell, and killed them; do you think that they were worse offenders than all the men who dwell in Jerusalem?
Luk 13:5 I tell you, no, but, unless you repent, you will all perish in the same way."
Luk 13:6 He spoke this parable. "A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it, and found none.
Luk 13:7 He said to the vine dresser, 'Behold, these three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and found none. Cut it down. Why does it waste the soil?'
Luk 13:8 He answered, 'Lord, leave it alone this year also, until I dig around it, and fertilize it.
Luk 13:9 If it bears fruit, fine; but if not, after that, you can cut it down.' "
Luk 13:10 He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath day.
Luk 13:11 Behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and she was bent over, and could in no way straighten herself up.
Luk 13:12 When Jesus saw her, he called her, and said to her, "Woman, you are freed from your infirmity."
Luk 13:13 He laid his hands on her, and immediately she stood up straight, and glorified God.
Luk 13:14 The ruler of the synagogue, being indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the multitude, "There are six days in which men ought to work. Therefore come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day!"
Luk 13:15 Therefore the Lord answered him, "You hypocrites! Doesn't each one of you free his ox or his donkey from the stall on the Sabbath, and lead him away to water?
Luk 13:16 Ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan had bound eighteen long years, be freed from this bondage on the Sabbath day?"
Luk 13:17 As he said these things, all his adversaries were disappointed, and all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.
Luk 13:18 He said, "What is the Kingdom of God like? To what shall I compare it?
Luk 13:19 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and put in his own garden. It grew, and became a large tree, and the birds of the sky lodged in its branches."
Luk 13:20 Again he said, "To what shall I compare the Kingdom of God?
Luk 13:21 It is like yeast, which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened."
Luk 13:22 He went on his way through cities and villages, teaching, and traveling on to Jerusalem.
Luk 13:23 One said to him, "Lord, are they few who are saved?" He said to them,
Luk 13:24 "Strive to enter in by the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will seek to enter in, and will not be able.
Luk 13:25 When once the master of the house has risen up, and has shut the door, and you begin to stand outside, and to knock at the door, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open to us!' then he will answer and tell you, 'I don't know you or where you come from.'
Luk 13:26 Then you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.'
Luk 13:27 He will say, 'I tell you, I don't know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity.'
Luk 13:28 There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and yourselves being thrown outside.
Luk 13:29 They will come from the east, west, north, and south, and will sit down in the Kingdom of God.
Luk 13:30 Behold, there are some who are last who will be first, and there are some who are first who will be last."
Luk 13:31 On that same day, some Pharisees came, saying to him, "Get out of here, and go away, for Herod wants to kill you."
Luk 13:32 He said to them, "Go and tell that fox, 'Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I complete my mission.
Luk 13:33 Nevertheless I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the next day, for it can't be that a prophet perish outside of Jerusalem.'
Luk 13:34 "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that kills the prophets, and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, like a hen gathers her own brood under her wings, and you refused!
Luk 13:35 Behold, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me, until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!' "
No doubt you’ve heard the brouhaha over the remarks of a member of the “Duck Dynasty” cast concerning homosexuality. Though we do not agree with all of the religious views of the Robertson family, the Christian cannot help but be encouraged by the forthright stand made by the Robertson family's patriarch. Phil Robertson told his interviewer that homosexuality is “sin,” “not logical,” and “not right” (Magary, 2013). Leading homosexual organizations and other “politically correct” advocates have been quick to condemn and spew hate speech against him (e.g., Sacks and Kaplan, 2013; “‘Duck Dynasty’ Family…,” 2013). The incident merely highlights the full-blown culture war that has been raging for a number of years in the United States.