Welcome to the 2023 King Street Church Bible Reading Plan.  This year we will be following a chronological plan.

In your personal journal, consider answering these questions as part of your devotional time:

 

In this passage…

Numbers 14-15; Psalm 90

14That night all the people of the community raised their voices and wept aloud.

²All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this desert!

³Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?”

⁴And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”

⁵Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown in front of the whole Israelite assembly gathered there.

⁶Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes

⁷and said to the entire Israelite assembly, “The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good.

⁸If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us.

⁹Only do not rebel against the Lord . And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them.”

¹⁰But the whole assembly talked about stoning them. Then the glory of the Lord appeared at the Tent of Meeting to all the Israelites.

¹¹The Lord said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the miraculous signs I have performed among them?

¹²I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them, but I will make you into a nation greater and stronger than they.”

¹³Moses said to the Lord , “Then the Egyptians will hear about it! By your power you brought these people up from among them.

¹⁴And they will tell the inhabitants of this land about it. They have already heard that you, O Lord , are with these people and that you, O Lord , have been seen face to face, that your cloud stays over them, and that you go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.

¹⁵If you put these people to death all at one time, the nations who have heard this report about you will say,

¹⁶‘The Lord was not able to bring these people into the land he promised them on oath; so he slaughtered them in the desert.’

¹⁷“Now may the Lord’s strength be displayed, just as you have declared:

¹⁸‘The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.’

¹⁹In accordance with your great love, forgive the sin of these people, just as you have pardoned them from the time they left Egypt until now.”

²⁰The Lord replied, “I have forgiven them, as you asked.

²¹Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the Lord fills the whole earth,

²²not one of the men who saw my glory and the miraculous signs I performed in Egypt and in the desert but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times-

²³not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their forefathers. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it.

²⁴But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it.

²⁵Since the Amalekites and Canaanites are living in the valleys, turn back tomorrow and set out toward the desert along the route to the Red Sea. “

²⁶The Lord said to Moses and Aaron:

²⁷“How long will this wicked community grumble against me? I have heard the complaints of these grumbling Israelites.

²⁸So tell them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord , I will do to you the very things I heard you say:

²⁹In this desert your bodies will fall-every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me.

³⁰Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

³¹As for your children that you said would be taken as plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have rejected.

³²But you-your bodies will fall in this desert.

³³Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the desert.

³⁴For forty years-one year for each of the forty days you explored the land-you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you.’

³⁵I, the Lord , have spoken, and I will surely do these things to this whole wicked community, which has banded together against me. They will meet their end in this desert; here they will die.”

³⁶So the men Moses had sent to explore the land, who returned and made the whole community grumble against him by spreading a bad report about it-

³⁷these men responsible for spreading the bad report about the land were struck down and died of a plague before the Lord .

³⁸Of the men who went to explore the land, only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh survived.

³⁹When Moses reported this to all the Israelites, they mourned bitterly.

⁴⁰Early the next morning they went up toward the high hill country. “We have sinned,” they said. “We will go up to the place the Lord promised.”

⁴¹But Moses said, “Why are you disobeying the Lord ‘s command? This will not succeed!

⁴²Do not go up, because the Lord is not with you. You will be defeated by your enemies,

⁴³for the Amalekites and Canaanites will face you there. Because you have turned away from the Lord , he will not be with you and you will fall by the sword.”

⁴⁴Nevertheless, in their presumption they went up toward the high hill country, though neither Moses nor the ark of the Lord ‘s covenant moved from the camp.

⁴⁵Then the Amalekites and Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and attacked them and beat them down all the way to Hormah.

15The Lord said to Moses,

²“Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘After you enter the land I am giving you as a home

³and you present to the Lord offerings made by fire, from the herd or the flock, as an aroma pleasing to the Lord -whether burnt offerings or sacrifices, for special vows or freewill offerings or festival offerings-

⁴then the one who brings his offering shall present to the Lord a grain offering of a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a quarter of a hin of oil.

⁵With each lamb for the burnt offering or the sacrifice, prepare a quarter of a hin of wine as a drink offering.

⁶” ‘With a ram prepare a grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a third of a hin of oil,

⁷and a third of a hin of wine as a drink offering. Offer it as an aroma pleasing to the Lord .

⁸” ‘When you prepare a young bull as a burnt offering or sacrifice, for a special vow or a fellowship offering to the Lord ,

⁹bring with the bull a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with half a hin of oil.

¹⁰Also bring half a hin of wine as a drink offering. It will be an offering made by fire, an aroma pleasing to the Lord .

¹¹Each bull or ram, each lamb or young goat, is to be prepared in this manner.

¹²Do this for each one, for as many as you prepare.

¹³” ‘Everyone who is native-born must do these things in this way when he brings an offering made by fire as an aroma pleasing to the Lord .

¹⁴For the generations to come, whenever an alien or anyone else living among you presents an offering made by fire as an aroma pleasing to the Lord , he must do exactly as you do.

¹⁵The community is to have the same rules for you and for the alien living among you; this is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. You and the alien shall be the same before the Lord :

¹⁶The same laws and regulations will apply both to you and to the alien living among you.’ “

¹⁷The Lord said to Moses,

¹⁸“Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter the land to which I am taking you

¹⁹and you eat the food of the land, present a portion as an offering to the Lord .

²⁰Present a cake from the first of your ground meal and present it as an offering from the threshing floor.

²¹Throughout the generations to come you are to give this offering to the Lord from the first of your ground meal.

²²” ‘Now if you unintentionally fail to keep any of these commands the Lord gave Moses-

²³any of the Lord ‘s commands to you through him, from the day the Lord gave them and continuing through the generations to come-

²⁴and if this is done unintentionally without the community being aware of it, then the whole community is to offer a young bull for a burnt offering as an aroma pleasing to the Lord , along with its prescribed grain offering and drink offering, and a male goat for a sin offering.

²⁵The priest is to make atonement for the whole Israelite community, and they will be forgiven, for it was not intentional and they have brought to the Lord for their wrong an offering made by fire and a sin offering.

²⁶The whole Israelite community and the aliens living among them will be forgiven, because all the people were involved in the unintentional wrong.

²⁷” ‘But if just one person sins unintentionally, he must bring a year-old female goat for a sin offering.

²⁸The priest is to make atonement before the Lord for the one who erred by sinning unintentionally, and when atonement has been made for him, he will be forgiven.

²⁹One and the same law applies to everyone who sins unintentionally, whether he is a native-born Israelite or an alien.

³⁰” ‘But anyone who sins defiantly, whether native-born or alien, blasphemes the Lord , and that person must be cut off from his people.

³¹Because he has despised the Lord ‘s word and broken his commands, that person must surely be cut off; his guilt remains on him.’ “

³²While the Israelites were in the desert, a man was found gathering wood on the Sabbath day.

³³Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and the whole assembly,

³⁴and they kept him in custody, because it was not clear what should be done to him.

³⁵Then the Lord said to Moses, “The man must die. The whole assembly must stone him outside the camp.”

³⁶So the assembly took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the Lord commanded Moses.

³⁷The Lord said to Moses,

³⁸“Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘Throughout the generations to come you are to make tassels on the corners of your garments, with a blue cord on each tassel.

³⁹You will have these tassels to look at and so you will remember all the commands of the Lord , that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by going after the lusts of your own hearts and eyes.

⁴⁰Then you will remember to obey all my commands and will be consecrated to your God.

⁴¹I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord your God.’ “

Psalm 90

¹Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.

²Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

³You turn men back to dust, saying, “Return to dust, O sons of men.”

⁴For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night.

⁵You sweep men away in the sleep of death; they are like the new grass of the morning-

⁶though in the morning it springs up new, by evening it is dry and withered.

⁷We are consumed by your anger and terrified by your indignation.

⁸You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.

⁹All our days pass away under your wrath; we finish our years with a moan.

¹⁰The length of our days is seventy years- or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.

¹¹Who knows the power of your anger? For your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you.

¹²Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

¹³Relent, O Lord ! How long will it be? Have compassion on your servants.

¹⁴Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.

¹⁵Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, for as many years as we have seen trouble.

¹⁶May your deeds be shown to your servants, your splendor to their children.

¹⁷May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us- yes, establish the work of our hands.

Welcome to the 2023 King Street Church Bible Reading Plan.  This year we will be following a chronological plan.

In your personal journal, consider answering these questions as part of your devotional time:

 

In this passage…

Numbers 11-13

11Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the Lord , and when he heard them his anger was aroused. Then fire from the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp.

²When the people cried out to Moses, he prayed to the Lord and the fire died down.

³So that place was called Taberah, because fire from the Lord had burned among them. Quail From the Lord

⁴The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, “If only we had meat to eat!

⁵We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost-also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic.

⁶But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!”

⁷The manna was like coriander seed and looked like resin.

⁸The people went around gathering it, and then ground it in a handmill or crushed it in a mortar. They cooked it in a pot or made it into cakes. And it tasted like something made with olive oil.

⁹When the dew settled on the camp at night, the manna also came down.

¹⁰Moses heard the people of every family wailing, each at the entrance to his tent. The Lord became exceedingly angry, and Moses was troubled.

¹¹He asked the Lord , “Why have you brought this trouble on your servant? What have I done to displease you that you put the burden of all these people on me?

¹²Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth? Why do you tell me to carry them in my arms, as a nurse carries an infant, to the land you promised on oath to their forefathers?

¹³Where can I get meat for all these people? They keep wailing to me, ‘Give us meat to eat!’

¹⁴I cannot carry all these people by myself; the burden is too heavy for me.

¹⁵If this is how you are going to treat me, put me to death right now-if I have found favor in your eyes-and do not let me face my own ruin.”

¹⁶The Lord said to Moses: “Bring me seventy of Israel’s elders who are known to you as leaders and officials among the people. Have them come to the Tent of Meeting, that they may stand there with you.

¹⁷I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take of the Spirit that is on you and put the Spirit on them. They will help you carry the burden of the people so that you will not have to carry it alone.

¹⁸“Tell the people: ‘Consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow, when you will eat meat. The Lord heard you when you wailed, “If only we had meat to eat! We were better off in Egypt!” Now the Lord will give you meat, and you will eat it.

¹⁹You will not eat it for just one day, or two days, or five, ten or twenty days,

²⁰but for a whole month-until it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it-because you have rejected the Lord , who is among you, and have wailed before him, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?” ‘ “

²¹But Moses said, “Here I am among six hundred thousand men on foot, and you say, ‘I will give them meat to eat for a whole month!’

²²Would they have enough if flocks and herds were slaughtered for them? Would they have enough if all the fish in the sea were caught for them?”

²³The Lord answered Moses, “Is the Lord ‘s arm too short? You will now see whether or not what I say will come true for you.”

²⁴So Moses went out and told the people what the Lord had said. He brought together seventy of their elders and had them stand around the Tent.

²⁵Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke with him, and he took of the Spirit that was on him and put the Spirit on the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but they did not do so again.

²⁶However, two men, whose names were Eldad and Medad, had remained in the camp. They were listed among the elders, but did not go out to the Tent. Yet the Spirit also rested on them, and they prophesied in the camp.

²⁷A young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.”

²⁸Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses’ aide since youth, spoke up and said, “Moses, my lord, stop them!”

²⁹But Moses replied, “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the Lord ‘s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!”

³⁰Then Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp.

³¹Now a wind went out from the Lord and drove quail in from the sea. It brought them down all around the camp to about three feet above the ground, as far as a day’s walk in any direction.

³²All that day and night and all the next day the people went out and gathered quail. No one gathered less than ten homers. Then they spread them out all around the camp.

³³But while the meat was still between their teeth and before it could be consumed, the anger of the Lord burned against the people, and he struck them with a severe plague.

³⁴Therefore the place was named Kibroth Hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had craved other food.

³⁵From Kibroth Hattaavah the people traveled to Hazeroth and stayed there.

12Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite.

²“Has the Lord spoken only through Moses?” they asked. “Hasn’t he also spoken through us?” And the Lord heard this.

³(Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.)

⁴At once the Lord said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, “Come out to the Tent of Meeting, all three of you.” So the three of them came out.

⁵Then the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud; he stood at the entrance to the Tent and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When both of them stepped forward,

⁶he said, “Listen to my words: “When a prophet of the Lord is among you, I reveal myself to him in visions, I speak to him in dreams.

⁷But this is not true of my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house.

⁸With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the Lord . Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?”

⁹The anger of the Lord burned against them, and he left them.

¹⁰When the cloud lifted from above the Tent, there stood Miriam-leprous, like snow. Aaron turned toward her and saw that she had leprosy;

¹¹and he said to Moses, “Please, my lord, do not hold against us the sin we have so foolishly committed.

¹²Do not let her be like a stillborn infant coming from its mother’s womb with its flesh half eaten away.”

¹³So Moses cried out to the Lord , “O God, please heal her!”

¹⁴The Lord replied to Moses, “If her father had spit in her face, would she not have been in disgrace for seven days? Confine her outside the camp for seven days; after that she can be brought back.”

¹⁵So Miriam was confined outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on till she was brought back.

¹⁶After that, the people left Hazeroth and encamped in the Desert of Paran.

13The Lord said to Moses,

²“Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. From each ancestral tribe send one of its leaders.”

³So at the Lord ‘s command Moses sent them out from the Desert of Paran. All of them were leaders of the Israelites.

⁴These are their names: from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua son of Zaccur;

⁵from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat son of Hori;

⁶from the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh;

⁷from the tribe of Issachar, Igal son of Joseph;

⁸from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea son of Nun;

⁹from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti son of Raphu;

¹⁰from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel son of Sodi;

¹¹from the tribe of Manasseh (a tribe of Joseph), Gaddi son of Susi;

¹²from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel son of Gemalli;

¹³from the tribe of Asher, Sethur son of Michael;

¹⁴from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi son of Vophsi;

¹⁵from the tribe of Gad, Geuel son of Maki.

¹⁶These are the names of the men Moses sent to explore the land. (Moses gave Hoshea son of Nun the name Joshua.)

¹⁷When Moses sent them to explore Canaan, he said, “Go up through the Negev and on into the hill country.

¹⁸See what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many.

¹⁹What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What kind of towns do they live in? Are they unwalled or fortified?

²⁰How is the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees on it or not? Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land.” (It was the season for the first ripe grapes.)

²¹So they went up and explored the land from the Desert of Zin as far as Rehob, toward Lebo Hamath.

²²They went up through the Negev and came to Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, lived. (Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)

²³When they reached the Valley of Eshcol, they cut off a branch bearing a single cluster of grapes. Two of them carried it on a pole between them, along with some pomegranates and figs.

²⁴That place was called the Valley of Eshcol because of the cluster of grapes the Israelites cut off there.

²⁵At the end of forty days they returned from exploring the land.

²⁶They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land.

²⁷They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit.

²⁸But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there.

²⁹The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.”

³⁰Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”

³¹But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.”

³²And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size.

³³We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”

Welcome to the 2023 King Street Church Bible Reading Plan.  This year we will be following a chronological plan.

In your personal journal, consider answering these questions as part of your devotional time:

 

In this passage…

Numbers 8-10

8The Lord said to Moses,

²“Speak to Aaron and say to him, ‘When you set up the seven lamps, they are to light the area in front of the lampstand.’ “

³Aaron did so; he set up the lamps so that they faced forward on the lampstand, just as the Lord commanded Moses.

⁴This is how the lampstand was made: It was made of hammered gold-from its base to its blossoms. The lampstand was made exactly like the pattern the Lord had shown Moses.

⁵The Lord said to Moses:

⁶“Take the Levites from among the other Israelites and make them ceremonially clean.

⁷To purify them, do this: Sprinkle the water of cleansing on them; then have them shave their whole bodies and wash their clothes, and so purify themselves.

⁸Have them take a young bull with its grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil; then you are to take a second young bull for a sin offering.

⁹Bring the Levites to the front of the Tent of Meeting and assemble the whole Israelite community.

¹⁰You are to bring the Levites before the Lord , and the Israelites are to lay their hands on them.

¹¹Aaron is to present the Levites before the Lord as a wave offering from the Israelites, so that they may be ready to do the work of the Lord .

¹²“After the Levites lay their hands on the heads of the bulls, use the one for a sin offering to the Lord and the other for a burnt offering, to make atonement for the Levites.

¹³Have the Levites stand in front of Aaron and his sons and then present them as a wave offering to the Lord .

¹⁴In this way you are to set the Levites apart from the other Israelites, and the Levites will be mine.

¹⁵“After you have purified the Levites and presented them as a wave offering, they are to come to do their work at the Tent of Meeting.

¹⁶They are the Israelites who are to be given wholly to me. I have taken them as my own in place of the firstborn, the first male offspring from every Israelite woman.

¹⁷Every firstborn male in Israel, whether man or animal, is mine. When I struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, I set them apart for myself.

¹⁸And I have taken the Levites in place of all the firstborn sons in Israel.

¹⁹Of all the Israelites, I have given the Levites as gifts to Aaron and his sons to do the work at the Tent of Meeting on behalf of the Israelites and to make atonement for them so that no plague will strike the Israelites when they go near the sanctuary.”

²⁰Moses, Aaron and the whole Israelite community did with the Levites just as the Lord commanded Moses.

²¹The Levites purified themselves and washed their clothes. Then Aaron presented them as a wave offering before the Lord and made atonement for them to purify them.

²²After that, the Levites came to do their work at the Tent of Meeting under the supervision of Aaron and his sons. They did with the Levites just as the Lord commanded Moses.

²³The Lord said to Moses,

²⁴“This applies to the Levites: Men twenty-five years old or more shall come to take part in the work at the Tent of Meeting,

²⁵but at the age of fifty, they must retire from their regular service and work no longer.

²⁶They may assist their brothers in performing their duties at the Tent of Meeting, but they themselves must not do the work. This, then, is how you are to assign the responsibilities of the Levites.”

9The Lord spoke to Moses in the Desert of Sinai in the first month of the second year after they came out of Egypt. He said,

²“Have the Israelites celebrate the Passover at the appointed time.

³Celebrate it at the appointed time, at twilight on the fourteenth day of this month, in accordance with all its rules and regulations.”

⁴So Moses told the Israelites to celebrate the Passover,

⁵and they did so in the Desert of Sinai at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month. The Israelites did everything just as the Lord commanded Moses.

⁶But some of them could not celebrate the Passover on that day because they were ceremonially unclean on account of a dead body. So they came to Moses and Aaron that same day

⁷and said to Moses, “We have become unclean because of a dead body, but why should we be kept from presenting the Lord ‘s offering with the other Israelites at the appointed time?”

⁸Moses answered them, “Wait until I find out what the Lord commands concerning you.”

⁹Then the Lord said to Moses,

¹⁰“Tell the Israelites: ‘When any of you or your descendants are unclean because of a dead body or are away on a journey, they may still celebrate the Lord ‘s Passover.

¹¹They are to celebrate it on the fourteenth day of the second month at twilight. They are to eat the lamb, together with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

¹²They must not leave any of it till morning or break any of its bones. When they celebrate the Passover, they must follow all the regulations.

¹³But if a man who is ceremonially clean and not on a journey fails to celebrate the Passover, that person must be cut off from his people because he did not present the Lord ‘s offering at the appointed time. That man will bear the consequences of his sin.

¹⁴” ‘An alien living among you who wants to celebrate the Lord ‘s Passover must do so in accordance with its rules and regulations. You must have the same regulations for the alien and the native-born.’ “

¹⁵On the day the tabernacle, the Tent of the Testimony, was set up, the cloud covered it. From evening till morning the cloud above the tabernacle looked like fire.

¹⁶That is how it continued to be; the cloud covered it, and at night it looked like fire.

¹⁷Whenever the cloud lifted from above the Tent, the Israelites set out; wherever the cloud settled, the Israelites encamped.

¹⁸At the Lord ‘s command the Israelites set out, and at his command they encamped. As long as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle, they remained in camp.

¹⁹When the cloud remained over the tabernacle a long time, the Israelites obeyed the Lord ‘s order and did not set out.

²⁰Sometimes the cloud was over the tabernacle only a few days; at the Lord ‘s command they would encamp, and then at his command they would set out.

²¹Sometimes the cloud stayed only from evening till morning, and when it lifted in the morning, they set out. Whether by day or by night, whenever the cloud lifted, they set out.

²²Whether the cloud stayed over the tabernacle for two days or a month or a year, the Israelites would remain in camp and not set out; but when it lifted, they would set out.

²³At the Lord ‘s command they encamped, and at the Lord ‘s command they set out. They obeyed the Lord ‘s order, in accordance with his command through Moses.

10The Lord said to Moses:

²“Make two trumpets of hammered silver, and use them for calling the community together and for having the camps set out.

³When both are sounded, the whole community is to assemble before you at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

⁴If only one is sounded, the leaders-the heads of the clans of Israel-are to assemble before you.

⁵When a trumpet blast is sounded, the tribes camping on the east are to set out.

⁶At the sounding of a second blast, the camps on the south are to set out. The blast will be the signal for setting out.

⁷To gather the assembly, blow the trumpets, but not with the same signal.

⁸“The sons of Aaron, the priests, are to blow the trumpets. This is to be a lasting ordinance for you and the generations to come.

⁹When you go into battle in your own land against an enemy who is oppressing you, sound a blast on the trumpets. Then you will be remembered by the Lord your God and rescued from your enemies.

¹⁰Also at your times of rejoicing-your appointed feasts and New Moon festivals-you are to sound the trumpets over your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, and they will be a memorial for you before your God. I am the Lord your God.”

¹¹On the twentieth day of the second month of the second year, the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle of the Testimony.

¹²Then the Israelites set out from the Desert of Sinai and traveled from place to place until the cloud came to rest in the Desert of Paran.

¹³They set out, this first time, at the Lord ‘s command through Moses.

¹⁴The divisions of the camp of Judah went first, under their standard. Nahshon son of Amminadab was in command.

¹⁵Nethanel son of Zuar was over the division of the tribe of Issachar,

¹⁶and Eliab son of Helon was over the division of the tribe of Zebulun.

¹⁷Then the tabernacle was taken down, and the Gershonites and Merarites, who carried it, set out.

¹⁸The divisions of the camp of Reuben went next, under their standard. Elizur son of Shedeur was in command.

¹⁹Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai was over the division of the tribe of Simeon,

²⁰and Eliasaph son of Deuel was over the division of the tribe of Gad.

²¹Then the Kohathites set out, carrying the holy things. The tabernacle was to be set up before they arrived.

²²The divisions of the camp of Ephraim went next, under their standard. Elishama son of Ammihud was in command.

²³Gamaliel son of Pedahzur was over the division of the tribe of Manasseh,

²⁴and Abidan son of Gideoni was over the division of the tribe of Benjamin.

²⁵Finally, as the rear guard for all the units, the divisions of the camp of Dan set out, under their standard. Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai was in command.

²⁶Pagiel son of Ocran was over the division of the tribe of Asher,

²⁷and Ahira son of Enan was over the division of the tribe of Naphtali.

²⁸This was the order of march for the Israelite divisions as they set out.

²⁹Now Moses said to Hobab son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, “We are setting out for the place about which the Lord said, ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us and we will treat you well, for the Lord has promised good things to Israel.”

³⁰He answered, “No, I will not go; I am going back to my own land and my own people.”

³¹But Moses said, “Please do not leave us. You know where we should camp in the desert, and you can be our eyes.

³²If you come with us, we will share with you whatever good things the Lord gives us.”

³³So they set out from the mountain of the Lord and traveled for three days. The ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them during those three days to find them a place to rest.

³⁴The cloud of the Lord was over them by day when they set out from the camp.

³⁵Whenever the ark set out, Moses said, “Rise up, O Lord ! May your enemies be scattered; may your foes flee before you.”

³⁶Whenever it came to rest, he said, “Return, O Lord , to the countless thousands of Israel.”

Welcome to the 2023 King Street Church Bible Reading Plan.  This year we will be following a chronological plan.

In your personal journal, consider answering these questions as part of your devotional time:

 

In this passage…

Numbers 7

7When Moses finished setting up the tabernacle, he anointed it and consecrated it and all its furnishings. He also anointed and consecrated the altar and all its utensils.

²Then the leaders of Israel, the heads of families who were the tribal leaders in charge of those who were counted, made offerings.

³They brought as their gifts before the Lord six covered carts and twelve oxen-an ox from each leader and a cart from every two. These they presented before the tabernacle.

⁴The Lord said to Moses,

⁵“Accept these from them, that they may be used in the work at the Tent of Meeting. Give them to the Levites as each man’s work requires.”

⁶So Moses took the carts and oxen and gave them to the Levites.

⁷He gave two carts and four oxen to the Gershonites, as their work required,

⁸and he gave four carts and eight oxen to the Merarites, as their work required. They were all under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron, the priest.

⁹But Moses did not give any to the Kohathites, because they were to carry on their shoulders the holy things, for which they were responsible.

¹⁰When the altar was anointed, the leaders brought their offerings for its dedication and presented them before the altar.

¹¹For the Lord had said to Moses, “Each day one leader is to bring his offering for the dedication of the altar.”

¹²The one who brought his offering on the first day was Nahshon son of Amminadab of the tribe of Judah.

¹³His offering was one silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels, both according to the sanctuary shekel, each filled with fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering;

¹⁴one gold dish weighing ten shekels, filled with incense;

¹⁵one young bull, one ram and one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;

¹⁶one male goat for a sin offering;

¹⁷and two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs a year old, to be sacrificed as a fellowship offering. This was the offering of Nahshon son of Amminadab.

¹⁸On the second day Nethanel son of Zuar, the leader of Issachar, brought his offering.

¹⁹The offering he brought was one silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels, both according to the sanctuary shekel, each filled with fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering;

²⁰one gold dish weighing ten shekels, filled with incense;

²¹one young bull, one ram and one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;

²²one male goat for a sin offering;

²³and two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs a year old, to be sacrificed as a fellowship offering. This was the offering of Nethanel son of Zuar.

²⁴On the third day, Eliab son of Helon, the leader of the people of Zebulun, brought his offering.

²⁵His offering was one silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels, both according to the sanctuary shekel, each filled with fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering;

²⁶one gold dish weighing ten shekels, filled with incense;

²⁷one young bull, one ram and one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;

²⁸one male goat for a sin offering;

²⁹and two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs a year old, to be sacrificed as a fellowship offering. This was the offering of Eliab son of Helon.

³⁰On the fourth day Elizur son of Shedeur, the leader of the people of Reuben, brought his offering.

³¹His offering was one silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels, both according to the sanctuary shekel, each filled with fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering;

³²one gold dish weighing ten shekels, filled with incense;

³³one young bull, one ram and one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;

³⁴one male goat for a sin offering;

³⁵and two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs a year old, to be sacrificed as a fellowship offering. This was the offering of Elizur son of Shedeur.

³⁶On the fifth day Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai, the leader of the people of Simeon, brought his offering.

³⁷His offering was one silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels, both according to the sanctuary shekel, each filled with fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering;

³⁸one gold dish weighing ten shekels, filled with incense;

³⁹one young bull, one ram and one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;

⁴⁰one male goat for a sin offering;

⁴¹and two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs a year old, to be sacrificed as a fellowship offering. This was the offering of Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai.

⁴²On the sixth day Eliasaph son of Deuel, the leader of the people of Gad, brought his offering.

⁴³His offering was one silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels, both according to the sanctuary shekel, each filled with fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering;

⁴⁴one gold dish weighing ten shekels, filled with incense;

⁴⁵one young bull, one ram and one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;

⁴⁶one male goat for a sin offering;

⁴⁷and two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs a year old, to be sacrificed as a fellowship offering. This was the offering of Eliasaph son of Deuel.

⁴⁸On the seventh day Elishama son of Ammihud, the leader of the people of Ephraim, brought his offering.

⁴⁹His offering was one silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels, both according to the sanctuary shekel, each filled with fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering;

⁵⁰one gold dish weighing ten shekels, filled with incense;

⁵¹one young bull, one ram and one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;

⁵²one male goat for a sin offering;

⁵³and two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs a year old, to be sacrificed as a fellowship offering. This was the offering of Elishama son of Ammihud.

⁵⁴On the eighth day Gamaliel son of Pedahzur, the leader of the people of Manasseh, brought his offering.

⁵⁵His offering was one silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels, both according to the sanctuary shekel, each filled with fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering;

⁵⁶one gold dish weighing ten shekels, filled with incense;

⁵⁷one young bull, one ram and one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;

⁵⁸one male goat for a sin offering;

⁵⁹and two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs a year old, to be sacrificed as a fellowship offering. This was the offering of Gamaliel son of Pedahzur.

⁶⁰On the ninth day Abidan son of Gideoni, the leader of the people of Benjamin, brought his offering.

⁶¹His offering was one silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels, both according to the sanctuary shekel, each filled with fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering;

⁶²one gold dish weighing ten shekels, filled with incense;

⁶³one young bull, one ram and one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;

⁶⁴one male goat for a sin offering;

⁶⁵and two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs a year old, to be sacrificed as a fellowship offering. This was the offering of Abidan son of Gideoni.

⁶⁶On the tenth day Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai, the leader of the people of Dan, brought his offering.

⁶⁷His offering was one silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels, both according to the sanctuary shekel, each filled with fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering;

⁶⁸one gold dish weighing ten shekels, filled with incense;

⁶⁹one young bull, one ram and one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;

⁷⁰one male goat for a sin offering;

⁷¹and two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs a year old, to be sacrificed as a fellowship offering. This was the offering of Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai.

⁷²On the eleventh day Pagiel son of Ocran, the leader of the people of Asher, brought his offering.

⁷³His offering was one silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels, both according to the sanctuary shekel, each filled with fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering;

⁷⁴one gold dish weighing ten shekels, filled with incense;

⁷⁵one young bull, one ram and one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;

⁷⁶one male goat for a sin offering;

⁷⁷and two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs a year old, to be sacrificed as a fellowship offering. This was the offering of Pagiel son of Ocran.

⁷⁸On the twelfth day Ahira son of Enan, the leader of the people of Naphtali, brought his offering.

⁷⁹His offering was one silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels, both according to the sanctuary shekel, each filled with fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering;

⁸⁰one gold dish weighing ten shekels, filled with incense;

⁸¹one young bull, one ram and one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;

⁸²one male goat for a sin offering;

⁸³and two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs a year old, to be sacrificed as a fellowship offering. This was the offering of Ahira son of Enan.

⁸⁴These were the offerings of the Israelite leaders for the dedication of the altar when it was anointed: twelve silver plates, twelve silver sprinkling bowls and twelve gold dishes.

⁸⁵Each silver plate weighed a hundred and thirty shekels, and each sprinkling bowl seventy shekels. Altogether, the silver dishes weighed two thousand four hundred shekels, according to the sanctuary shekel.

⁸⁶The twelve gold dishes filled with incense weighed ten shekels each, according to the sanctuary shekel. Altogether, the gold dishes weighed a hundred and twenty shekels.

⁸⁷The total number of animals for the burnt offering came to twelve young bulls, twelve rams and twelve male lambs a year old, together with their grain offering. Twelve male goats were used for the sin offering.

⁸⁸The total number of animals for the sacrifice of the fellowship offering came to twenty-four oxen, sixty rams, sixty male goats and sixty male lambs a year old. These were the offerings for the dedication of the altar after it was anointed.

⁸⁹When Moses entered the Tent of Meeting to speak with the Lord , he heard the voice speaking to him from between the two cherubim above the atonement cover on the ark of the Testimony. And he spoke with him.

Welcome to the 2023 King Street Church Bible Reading Plan.  This year we will be following a chronological plan.

In your personal journal, consider answering these questions as part of your devotional time:

 

In this passage…

Numbers 5-6

5The Lord said to Moses,

²“Command the Israelites to send away from the camp anyone who has an infectious skin disease or a discharge of any kind, or who is ceremonially unclean because of a dead body.

³Send away male and female alike; send them outside the camp so they will not defile their camp, where I dwell among them.”

⁴The Israelites did this; they sent them outside the camp. They did just as the Lord had instructed Moses.

⁵The Lord said to Moses,

⁶“Say to the Israelites: ‘When a man or woman wrongs another in any way and so is unfaithful to the Lord , that person is guilty

⁷and must confess the sin he has committed. He must make full restitution for his wrong, add one fifth to it and give it all to the person he has wronged.

⁸But if that person has no close relative to whom restitution can be made for the wrong, the restitution belongs to the Lord and must be given to the priest, along with the ram with which atonement is made for him.

⁹All the sacred contributions the Israelites bring to a priest will belong to him.

¹⁰Each man’s sacred gifts are his own, but what he gives to the priest will belong to the priest.’ “

¹¹Then the Lord said to Moses,

¹²“Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘If a man’s wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him

¹³by sleeping with another man, and this is hidden from her husband and her impurity is undetected (since there is no witness against her and she has not been caught in the act),

¹⁴and if feelings of jealousy come over her husband and he suspects his wife and she is impure-or if he is jealous and suspects her even though she is not impure-

¹⁵then he is to take his wife to the priest. He must also take an offering of a tenth of an ephah of barley flour on her behalf. He must not pour oil on it or put incense on it, because it is a grain offering for jealousy, a reminder offering to draw attention to guilt.

¹⁶” ‘The priest shall bring her and have her stand before the Lord .

¹⁷Then he shall take some holy water in a clay jar and put some dust from the tabernacle floor into the water.

¹⁸After the priest has had the woman stand before the Lord , he shall loosen her hair and place in her hands the reminder offering, the grain offering for jealousy, while he himself holds the bitter water that brings a curse.

¹⁹Then the priest shall put the woman under oath and say to her, “If no other man has slept with you and you have not gone astray and become impure while married to your husband, may this bitter water that brings a curse not harm you.

²⁰But if you have gone astray while married to your husband and you have defiled yourself by sleeping with a man other than your husband”-

²¹here the priest is to put the woman under this curse of the oath-“may the Lord cause your people to curse and denounce you when he causes your thigh to waste away and your abdomen to swell.

²²May this water that brings a curse enter your body so that your abdomen swells and your thigh wastes away. ” ” ‘Then the woman is to say, “Amen. So be it.”

²³” ‘The priest is to write these curses on a scroll and then wash them off into the bitter water.

²⁴He shall have the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and this water will enter her and cause bitter suffering.

²⁵The priest is to take from her hands the grain offering for jealousy, wave it before the Lord and bring it to the altar.

²⁶The priest is then to take a handful of the grain offering as a memorial offering and burn it on the altar; after that, he is to have the woman drink the water.

²⁷If she has defiled herself and been unfaithful to her husband, then when she is made to drink the water that brings a curse, it will go into her and cause bitter suffering; her abdomen will swell and her thigh waste away, and she will become accursed among her people.

²⁸If, however, the woman has not defiled herself and is free from impurity, she will be cleared of guilt and will be able to have children.

²⁹” ‘This, then, is the law of jealousy when a woman goes astray and defiles herself while married to her husband,

³⁰or when feelings of jealousy come over a man because he suspects his wife. The priest is to have her stand before the Lord and is to apply this entire law to her.

³¹The husband will be innocent of any wrongdoing, but the woman will bear the consequences of her sin.’ “

6The Lord said to Moses,

²“Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘If a man or woman wants to make a special vow, a vow of separation to the Lord as a Nazirite,

³he must abstain from wine and other fermented drink and must not drink vinegar made from wine or from other fermented drink. He must not drink grape juice or eat grapes or raisins.

⁴As long as he is a Nazirite, he must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine, not even the seeds or skins.

⁵” ‘During the entire period of his vow of separation no razor may be used on his head. He must be holy until the period of his separation to the Lord is over; he must let the hair of his head grow long.

⁶Throughout the period of his separation to the Lord he must not go near a dead body.

⁷Even if his own father or mother or brother or sister dies, he must not make himself ceremonially unclean on account of them, because the symbol of his separation to God is on his head.

⁸Throughout the period of his separation he is consecrated to the Lord .

⁹” ‘If someone dies suddenly in his presence, thus defiling the hair he has dedicated, he must shave his head on the day of his cleansing-the seventh day.

¹⁰Then on the eighth day he must bring two doves or two young pigeons to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

¹¹The priest is to offer one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering to make atonement for him because he sinned by being in the presence of the dead body. That same day he is to consecrate his head.

¹²He must dedicate himself to the Lord for the period of his separation and must bring a year-old male lamb as a guilt offering. The previous days do not count, because he became defiled during his separation.

¹³” ‘Now this is the law for the Nazirite when the period of his separation is over. He is to be brought to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

¹⁴There he is to present his offerings to the Lord : a year-old male lamb without defect for a burnt offering, a year-old ewe lamb without defect for a sin offering, a ram without defect for a fellowship offering,

¹⁵together with their grain offerings and drink offerings, and a basket of bread made without yeast-cakes made of fine flour mixed with oil, and wafers spread with oil.

¹⁶” ‘The priest is to present them before the Lord and make the sin offering and the burnt offering.

¹⁷He is to present the basket of unleavened bread and is to sacrifice the ram as a fellowship offering to the Lord , together with its grain offering and drink offering.

¹⁸” ‘Then at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, the Nazirite must shave off the hair that he dedicated. He is to take the hair and put it in the fire that is under the sacrifice of the fellowship offering.

¹⁹” ‘After the Nazirite has shaved off the hair of his dedication, the priest is to place in his hands a boiled shoulder of the ram, and a cake and a wafer from the basket, both made without yeast.

²⁰The priest shall then wave them before the Lord as a wave offering; they are holy and belong to the priest, together with the breast that was waved and the thigh that was presented. After that, the Nazirite may drink wine.

²¹” ‘This is the law of the Nazirite who vows his offering to the Lord in accordance with his separation, in addition to whatever else he can afford. He must fulfill the vow he has made, according to the law of the Nazirite.’ “

²²The Lord said to Moses,

²³“Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them:

²⁴” ‘ “The Lord bless you and keep you;

²⁵the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you;

²⁶the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.” ‘

²⁷“So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.”

Welcome to the 2023 King Street Church Bible Reading Plan.  This year we will be following a chronological plan.

In your personal journal, consider answering these questions as part of your devotional time:

 

In this passage…

Numbers 3-4

3This is the account of the family of Aaron and Moses at the time the Lord talked with Moses on Mount Sinai.

²The names of the sons of Aaron were Nadab the firstborn and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.

³Those were the names of Aaron’s sons, the anointed priests, who were ordained to serve as priests.

⁴Nadab and Abihu, however, fell dead before the Lord when they made an offering with unauthorized fire before him in the Desert of Sinai. They had no sons; so only Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests during the lifetime of their father Aaron.

⁵The Lord said to Moses,

⁶“Bring the tribe of Levi and present them to Aaron the priest to assist him.

⁷They are to perform duties for him and for the whole community at the Tent of Meeting by doing the work of the tabernacle.

⁸They are to take care of all the furnishings of the Tent of Meeting, fulfilling the obligations of the Israelites by doing the work of the tabernacle.

⁹Give the Levites to Aaron and his sons; they are the Israelites who are to be given wholly to him.

¹⁰Appoint Aaron and his sons to serve as priests; anyone else who approaches the sanctuary must be put to death.”

¹¹The Lord also said to Moses,

¹²“I have taken the Levites from among the Israelites in place of the first male offspring of every Israelite woman. The Levites are mine,

¹³for all the firstborn are mine. When I struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, I set apart for myself every firstborn in Israel, whether man or animal. They are to be mine. I am the Lord .”

¹⁴The Lord said to Moses in the Desert of Sinai,

¹⁵“Count the Levites by their families and clans. Count every male a month old or more.”

¹⁶So Moses counted them, as he was commanded by the word of the Lord .

¹⁷These were the names of the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath and Merari.

¹⁸These were the names of the Gershonite clans: Libni and Shimei.

¹⁹The Kohathite clans: Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel.

²⁰The Merarite clans: Mahli and Mushi. These were the Levite clans, according to their families.

²¹To Gershon belonged the clans of the Libnites and Shimeites; these were the Gershonite clans.

²²The number of all the males a month old or more who were counted was 7,500.

²³The Gershonite clans were to camp on the west, behind the tabernacle.

²⁴The leader of the families of the Gershonites was Eliasaph son of Lael.

²⁵At the Tent of Meeting the Gershonites were responsible for the care of the tabernacle and tent, its coverings, the curtain at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting,

²⁶the curtains of the courtyard, the curtain at the entrance to the courtyard surrounding the tabernacle and altar, and the ropes-and everything related to their use.

²⁷To Kohath belonged the clans of the Amramites, Izharites, Hebronites and Uzzielites; these were the Kohathite clans.

²⁸The number of all the males a month old or more was 8,600. The Kohathites were responsible for the care of the sanctuary.

²⁹The Kohathite clans were to camp on the south side of the tabernacle.

³⁰The leader of the families of the Kohathite clans was Elizaphan son of Uzziel.

³¹They were responsible for the care of the ark, the table, the lampstand, the altars, the articles of the sanctuary used in ministering, the curtain, and everything related to their use.

³²The chief leader of the Levites was Eleazar son of Aaron, the priest. He was appointed over those who were responsible for the care of the sanctuary.

³³To Merari belonged the clans of the Mahlites and the Mushites; these were the Merarite clans.

³⁴The number of all the males a month old or more who were counted was 6,200.

³⁵The leader of the families of the Merarite clans was Zuriel son of Abihail; they were to camp on the north side of the tabernacle.

³⁶The Merarites were appointed to take care of the frames of the tabernacle, its crossbars, posts, bases, all its equipment, and everything related to their use,

³⁷as well as the posts of the surrounding courtyard with their bases, tent pegs and ropes.

³⁸Moses and Aaron and his sons were to camp to the east of the tabernacle, toward the sunrise, in front of the Tent of Meeting. They were responsible for the care of the sanctuary on behalf of the Israelites. Anyone else who approached the sanctuary was to be put to death.

³⁹The total number of Levites counted at the Lord ‘s command by Moses and Aaron according to their clans, including every male a month old or more, was 22,000.

⁴⁰The Lord said to Moses, “Count all the firstborn Israelite males who are a month old or more and make a list of their names.

⁴¹Take the Levites for me in place of all the firstborn of the Israelites, and the livestock of the Levites in place of all the firstborn of the livestock of the Israelites. I am the Lord .”

⁴²So Moses counted all the firstborn of the Israelites, as the Lord commanded him.

⁴³The total number of firstborn males a month old or more, listed by name, was 22,273.

⁴⁴The Lord also said to Moses,

⁴⁵“Take the Levites in place of all the firstborn of Israel, and the livestock of the Levites in place of their livestock. The Levites are to be mine. I am the Lord .

⁴⁶To redeem the 273 firstborn Israelites who exceed the number of the Levites,

⁴⁷collect five shekels for each one, according to the sanctuary shekel, which weighs twenty gerahs.

⁴⁸Give the money for the redemption of the additional Israelites to Aaron and his sons.”

⁴⁹So Moses collected the redemption money from those who exceeded the number redeemed by the Levites.

⁵⁰From the firstborn of the Israelites he collected silver weighing 1,365 shekels, according to the sanctuary shekel.

⁵¹Moses gave the redemption money to Aaron and his sons, as he was commanded by the word of the Lord .

4The Lord said to Moses and Aaron:

²“Take a census of the Kohathite branch of the Levites by their clans and families.

³Count all the men from thirty to fifty years of age who come to serve in the work in the Tent of Meeting.

⁴“This is the work of the Kohathites in the Tent of Meeting: the care of the most holy things.

⁵When the camp is to move, Aaron and his sons are to go in and take down the shielding curtain and cover the ark of the Testimony with it.

⁶Then they are to cover this with hides of sea cows, spread a cloth of solid blue over that and put the poles in place.

⁷“Over the table of the Presence they are to spread a blue cloth and put on it the plates, dishes and bowls, and the jars for drink offerings; the bread that is continually there is to remain on it.

⁸Over these they are to spread a scarlet cloth, cover that with hides of sea cows and put its poles in place.

⁹“They are to take a blue cloth and cover the lampstand that is for light, together with its lamps, its wick trimmers and trays, and all its jars for the oil used to supply it.

¹⁰Then they are to wrap it and all its accessories in a covering of hides of sea cows and put it on a carrying frame.

¹¹“Over the gold altar they are to spread a blue cloth and cover that with hides of sea cows and put its poles in place.

¹²“They are to take all the articles used for ministering in the sanctuary, wrap them in a blue cloth, cover that with hides of sea cows and put them on a carrying frame.

¹³“They are to remove the ashes from the bronze altar and spread a purple cloth over it.

¹⁴Then they are to place on it all the utensils used for ministering at the altar, including the firepans, meat forks, shovels and sprinkling bowls. Over it they are to spread a covering of hides of sea cows and put its poles in place.

¹⁵“After Aaron and his sons have finished covering the holy furnishings and all the holy articles, and when the camp is ready to move, the Kohathites are to come to do the carrying. But they must not touch the holy things or they will die. The Kohathites are to carry those things that are in the Tent of Meeting.

¹⁶“Eleazar son of Aaron, the priest, is to have charge of the oil for the light, the fragrant incense, the regular grain offering and the anointing oil. He is to be in charge of the entire tabernacle and everything in it, including its holy furnishings and articles.”

¹⁷The Lord said to Moses and Aaron,

¹⁸“See that the Kohathite tribal clans are not cut off from the Levites.

¹⁹So that they may live and not die when they come near the most holy things, do this for them: Aaron and his sons are to go into the sanctuary and assign to each man his work and what he is to carry.

²⁰But the Kohathites must not go in to look at the holy things, even for a moment, or they will die.”

²¹The Lord said to Moses,

²²“Take a census also of the Gershonites by their families and clans.

²³Count all the men from thirty to fifty years of age who come to serve in the work at the Tent of Meeting.

²⁴“This is the service of the Gershonite clans as they work and carry burdens:

²⁵They are to carry the curtains of the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting, its covering and the outer covering of hides of sea cows, the curtains for the entrance to the Tent of Meeting,

²⁶the curtains of the courtyard surrounding the tabernacle and altar, the curtain for the entrance, the ropes and all the equipment used in its service. The Gershonites are to do all that needs to be done with these things.

²⁷All their service, whether carrying or doing other work, is to be done under the direction of Aaron and his sons. You shall assign to them as their responsibility all they are to carry.

²⁸This is the service of the Gershonite clans at the Tent of Meeting. Their duties are to be under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron, the priest.

²⁹“Count the Merarites by their clans and families.

³⁰Count all the men from thirty to fifty years of age who come to serve in the work at the Tent of Meeting.

³¹This is their duty as they perform service at the Tent of Meeting: to carry the frames of the tabernacle, its crossbars, posts and bases,

³²as well as the posts of the surrounding courtyard with their bases, tent pegs, ropes, all their equipment and everything related to their use. Assign to each man the specific things he is to carry.

³³This is the service of the Merarite clans as they work at the Tent of Meeting under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron, the priest.”

³⁴Moses, Aaron and the leaders of the community counted the Kohathites by their clans and families.

³⁵All the men from thirty to fifty years of age who came to serve in the work in the Tent of Meeting,

³⁶counted by clans, were 2,750.

³⁷This was the total of all those in the Kohathite clans who served in the Tent of Meeting. Moses and Aaron counted them according to the Lord ‘s command through Moses.

³⁸The Gershonites were counted by their clans and families.

³⁹All the men from thirty to fifty years of age who came to serve in the work at the Tent of Meeting,

⁴⁰counted by their clans and families, were 2,630.

⁴¹This was the total of those in the Gershonite clans who served at the Tent of Meeting. Moses and Aaron counted them according to the Lord ‘s command.

⁴²The Merarites were counted by their clans and families.

⁴³All the men from thirty to fifty years of age who came to serve in the work at the Tent of Meeting,

⁴⁴counted by their clans, were 3,200.

⁴⁵This was the total of those in the Merarite clans. Moses and Aaron counted them according to the Lord ‘s command through Moses.

⁴⁶So Moses, Aaron and the leaders of Israel counted all the Levites by their clans and families.

⁴⁷All the men from thirty to fifty years of age who came to do the work of serving and carrying the Tent of Meeting

⁴⁸numbered 8,580.

⁴⁹At the Lord ‘s command through Moses, each was assigned his work and told what to carry. Thus they were counted, as the Lord commanded Moses.

Welcome to the 2023 King Street Church Bible Reading Plan.  This year we will be following a chronological plan.

In your personal journal, consider answering these questions as part of your devotional time:

 

In this passage…

Numbers 1-2

1The Lord spoke to Moses in the Tent of Meeting in the Desert of Sinai on the first day of the second month of the second year after the Israelites came out of Egypt. He said:

²“Take a census of the whole Israelite community by their clans and families, listing every man by name, one by one.

³You and Aaron are to number by their divisions all the men in Israel twenty years old or more who are able to serve in the army.

⁴One man from each tribe, each the head of his family, is to help you.

⁵These are the names of the men who are to assist you: from Reuben, Elizur son of Shedeur;

⁶from Simeon, Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai;

⁷from Judah, Nahshon son of Amminadab;

⁸from Issachar, Nethanel son of Zuar;

⁹from Zebulun, Eliab son of Helon;

¹⁰from the sons of Joseph: from Ephraim, Elishama son of Ammihud; from Manasseh, Gamaliel son of Pedahzur;

¹¹from Benjamin, Abidan son of Gideoni;

¹²from Dan, Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai;

¹³from Asher, Pagiel son of Ocran;

¹⁴from Gad, Eliasaph son of Deuel;

¹⁵from Naphtali, Ahira son of Enan.”

¹⁶These were the men appointed from the community, the leaders of their ancestral tribes. They were the heads of the clans of Israel.

¹⁷Moses and Aaron took these men whose names had been given,

¹⁸and they called the whole community together on the first day of the second month. The people indicated their ancestry by their clans and families, and the men twenty years old or more were listed by name, one by one,

¹⁹as the Lord commanded Moses. And so he counted them in the Desert of Sinai:

²⁰From the descendants of Reuben the firstborn son of Israel: All the men twenty years old or more who were able to serve in the army were listed by name, one by one, according to the records of their clans and families.

²¹The number from the tribe of Reuben was 46,500.

²²From the descendants of Simeon: All the men twenty years old or more who were able to serve in the army were counted and listed by name, one by one, according to the records of their clans and families.

²³The number from the tribe of Simeon was 59,300.

²⁴From the descendants of Gad: All the men twenty years old or more who were able to serve in the army were listed by name, according to the records of their clans and families.

²⁵The number from the tribe of Gad was 45,650.

²⁶From the descendants of Judah: All the men twenty years old or more who were able to serve in the army were listed by name, according to the records of their clans and families.

²⁷The number from the tribe of Judah was 74,600.

²⁸From the descendants of Issachar: All the men twenty years old or more who were able to serve in the army were listed by name, according to the records of their clans and families.

²⁹The number from the tribe of Issachar was 54,400.

³⁰From the descendants of Zebulun: All the men twenty years old or more who were able to serve in the army were listed by name, according to the records of their clans and families.

³¹The number from the tribe of Zebulun was 57,400.

³²From the sons of Joseph: From the descendants of Ephraim: All the men twenty years old or more who were able to serve in the army were listed by name, according to the records of their clans and families.

³³The number from the tribe of Ephraim was 40,500.

³⁴From the descendants of Manasseh: All the men twenty years old or more who were able to serve in the army were listed by name, according to the records of their clans and families.

³⁵The number from the tribe of Manasseh was 32,200.

³⁶From the descendants of Benjamin: All the men twenty years old or more who were able to serve in the army were listed by name, according to the records of their clans and families.

³⁷The number from the tribe of Benjamin was 35,400.

³⁸From the descendants of Dan: All the men twenty years old or more who were able to serve in the army were listed by name, according to the records of their clans and families.

³⁹The number from the tribe of Dan was 62,700.

⁴⁰From the descendants of Asher: All the men twenty years old or more who were able to serve in the army were listed by name, according to the records of their clans and families.

⁴¹The number from the tribe of Asher was 41,500.

⁴²From the descendants of Naphtali: All the men twenty years old or more who were able to serve in the army were listed by name, according to the records of their clans and families.

⁴³The number from the tribe of Naphtali was 53,400.

⁴⁴These were the men counted by Moses and Aaron and the twelve leaders of Israel, each one representing his family.

⁴⁵All the Israelites twenty years old or more who were able to serve in Israel’s army were counted according to their families.

⁴⁶The total number was 603,550.

⁴⁷The families of the tribe of Levi, however, were not counted along with the others.

⁴⁸The Lord had said to Moses:

⁴⁹“You must not count the tribe of Levi or include them in the census of the other Israelites.

⁵⁰Instead, appoint the Levites to be in charge of the tabernacle of the Testimony-over all its furnishings and everything belonging to it. They are to carry the tabernacle and all its furnishings; they are to take care of it and encamp around it.

⁵¹Whenever the tabernacle is to move, the Levites are to take it down, and whenever the tabernacle is to be set up, the Levites shall do it. Anyone else who goes near it shall be put to death.

⁵²The Israelites are to set up their tents by divisions, each man in his own camp under his own standard.

⁵³The Levites, however, are to set up their tents around the tabernacle of the Testimony so that wrath will not fall on the Israelite community. The Levites are to be responsible for the care of the tabernacle of the Testimony.”

⁵⁴The Israelites did all this just as the Lord commanded Moses.

2The Lord said to Moses and Aaron:

²“The Israelites are to camp around the Tent of Meeting some distance from it, each man under his standard with the banners of his family.”

³On the east, toward the sunrise, the divisions of the camp of Judah are to encamp under their standard. The leader of the people of Judah is Nahshon son of Amminadab.

⁴His division numbers 74,600.

⁵The tribe of Issachar will camp next to them. The leader of the people of Issachar is Nethanel son of Zuar.

⁶His division numbers 54,400.

⁷The tribe of Zebulun will be next. The leader of the people of Zebulun is Eliab son of Helon.

⁸His division numbers 57,400.

⁹All the men assigned to the camp of Judah, according to their divisions, number 186,400. They will set out first.

¹⁰On the south will be the divisions of the camp of Reuben under their standard. The leader of the people of Reuben is Elizur son of Shedeur.

¹¹His division numbers 46,500.

¹²The tribe of Simeon will camp next to them. The leader of the people of Simeon is Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai.

¹³His division numbers 59,300.

¹⁴The tribe of Gad will be next. The leader of the people of Gad is Eliasaph son of Deuel.

¹⁵His division numbers 45,650.

¹⁶All the men assigned to the camp of Reuben, according to their divisions, number 151,450. They will set out second.

¹⁷Then the Tent of Meeting and the camp of the Levites will set out in the middle of the camps. They will set out in the same order as they encamp, each in his own place under his standard.

¹⁸On the west will be the divisions of the camp of Ephraim under their standard. The leader of the people of Ephraim is Elishama son of Ammihud.

¹⁹His division numbers 40,500.

²⁰The tribe of Manasseh will be next to them. The leader of the people of Manasseh is Gamaliel son of Pedahzur.

²¹His division numbers 32,200.

²²The tribe of Benjamin will be next. The leader of the people of Benjamin is Abidan son of Gideoni.

²³His division numbers 35,400.

²⁴All the men assigned to the camp of Ephraim, according to their divisions, number 108,100. They will set out third.

²⁵On the north will be the divisions of the camp of Dan, under their standard. The leader of the people of Dan is Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai.

²⁶His division numbers 62,700.

²⁷The tribe of Asher will camp next to them. The leader of the people of Asher is Pagiel son of Ocran.

²⁸His division numbers 41,500.

²⁹The tribe of Naphtali will be next. The leader of the people of Naphtali is Ahira son of Enan.

³⁰His division numbers 53,400.

³¹All the men assigned to the camp of Dan number 157,600. They will set out last, under their standards.

³²These are the Israelites, counted according to their families. All those in the camps, by their divisions, number 603,550.

³³The Levites, however, were not counted along with the other Israelites, as the Lord commanded Moses.

³⁴So the Israelites did everything the Lord commanded Moses; that is the way they encamped under their standards, and that is the way they set out, each with his clan and family.

Welcome to the 2023 King Street Church Bible Reading Plan.  This year we will be following a chronological plan.

In your personal journal, consider answering these questions as part of your devotional time:

 

In this passage…

Leviticus 26-27

26” ‘Do not make idols or set up an image or a sacred stone for yourselves, and do not place a carved stone in your land to bow down before it. I am the Lord your God.

²” ‘Observe my Sabbaths and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am the Lord .

³” ‘If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands,

⁴I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees of the field their fruit.

⁵Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the food you want and live in safety in your land.

⁶” ‘I will grant peace in the land, and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid. I will remove savage beasts from the land, and the sword will not pass through your country.

⁷You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall by the sword before you.

⁸Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.

⁹” ‘I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers, and I will keep my covenant with you.

¹⁰You will still be eating last year’s harvest when you will have to move it out to make room for the new.

¹¹I will put my dwelling place among you, and I will not abhor you.

¹²I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people.

¹³I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high.

¹⁴” ‘But if you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands,

¹⁵and if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant,

¹⁶then I will do this to you: I will bring upon you sudden terror, wasting diseases and fever that will destroy your sight and drain away your life. You will plant seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it.

¹⁷I will set my face against you so that you will be defeated by your enemies; those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee even when no one is pursuing you.

¹⁸” ‘If after all this you will not listen to me, I will punish you for your sins seven times over.

¹⁹I will break down your stubborn pride and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze.

²⁰Your strength will be spent in vain, because your soil will not yield its crops, nor will the trees of the land yield their fruit.

²¹” ‘If you remain hostile toward me and refuse to listen to me, I will multiply your afflictions seven times over, as your sins deserve.

²²I will send wild animals against you, and they will rob you of your children, destroy your cattle and make you so few in number that your roads will be deserted.

²³” ‘If in spite of these things you do not accept my correction but continue to be hostile toward me,

²⁴I myself will be hostile toward you and will afflict you for your sins seven times over.

²⁵And I will bring the sword upon you to avenge the breaking of the covenant. When you withdraw into your cities, I will send a plague among you, and you will be given into enemy hands.

²⁶When I cut off your supply of bread, ten women will be able to bake your bread in one oven, and they will dole out the bread by weight. You will eat, but you will not be satisfied.

²⁷” ‘If in spite of this you still do not listen to me but continue to be hostile toward me,

²⁸then in my anger I will be hostile toward you, and I myself will punish you for your sins seven times over.

²⁹You will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters.

³⁰I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars and pile your dead bodies on the lifeless forms of your idols, and I will abhor you.

³¹I will turn your cities into ruins and lay waste your sanctuaries, and I will take no delight in the pleasing aroma of your offerings.

³²I will lay waste the land, so that your enemies who live there will be appalled.

³³I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out my sword and pursue you. Your land will be laid waste, and your cities will lie in ruins.

³⁴Then the land will enjoy its sabbath years all the time that it lies desolate and you are in the country of your enemies; then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths.

³⁵All the time that it lies desolate, the land will have the rest it did not have during the sabbaths you lived in it.

³⁶” ‘As for those of you who are left, I will make their hearts so fearful in the lands of their enemies that the sound of a windblown leaf will put them to flight. They will run as though fleeing from the sword, and they will fall, even though no one is pursuing them.

³⁷They will stumble over one another as though fleeing from the sword, even though no one is pursuing them. So you will not be able to stand before your enemies.

³⁸You will perish among the nations; the land of your enemies will devour you.

³⁹Those of you who are left will waste away in the lands of their enemies because of their sins; also because of their fathers’ sins they will waste away.

⁴⁰” ‘But if they will confess their sins and the sins of their fathers-their treachery against me and their hostility toward me,

⁴¹which made me hostile toward them so that I sent them into the land of their enemies-then when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they pay for their sin,

⁴²I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.

⁴³For the land will be deserted by them and will enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them. They will pay for their sins because they rejected my laws and abhorred my decrees.

⁴⁴Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them or abhor them so as to destroy them completely, breaking my covenant with them. I am the Lord their God.

⁴⁵But for their sake I will remember the covenant with their ancestors whom I brought out of Egypt in the sight of the nations to be their God. I am the Lord .’ “

⁴⁶These are the decrees, the laws and the regulations that the Lord established on Mount Sinai between himself and the Israelites through Moses.

27The Lord said to Moses,

²“Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘If anyone makes a special vow to dedicate persons to the Lord by giving equivalent values,

³set the value of a male between the ages of twenty and sixty at fifty shekels of silver, according to the sanctuary shekel ;

⁴and if it is a female, set her value at thirty shekels.

⁵If it is a person between the ages of five and twenty, set the value of a male at twenty shekels and of a female at ten shekels.

⁶If it is a person between one month and five years, set the value of a male at five shekels of silver and that of a female at three shekels of silver.

⁷If it is a person sixty years old or more, set the value of a male at fifteen shekels and of a female at ten shekels.

⁸If anyone making the vow is too poor to pay the specified amount, he is to present the person to the priest, who will set the value for him according to what the man making the vow can afford.

⁹” ‘If what he vowed is an animal that is acceptable as an offering to the Lord , such an animal given to the Lord becomes holy.

¹⁰He must not exchange it or substitute a good one for a bad one, or a bad one for a good one; if he should substitute one animal for another, both it and the substitute become holy.

¹¹If what he vowed is a ceremonially unclean animal-one that is not acceptable as an offering to the Lord -the animal must be presented to the priest,

¹²who will judge its quality as good or bad. Whatever value the priest then sets, that is what it will be.

¹³If the owner wishes to redeem the animal, he must add a fifth to its value.

¹⁴” ‘If a man dedicates his house as something holy to the Lord , the priest will judge its quality as good or bad. Whatever value the priest then sets, so it will remain.

¹⁵If the man who dedicates his house redeems it, he must add a fifth to its value, and the house will again become his.

¹⁶” ‘If a man dedicates to the Lord part of his family land, its value is to be set according to the amount of seed required for it-fifty shekels of silver to a homer of barley seed.

¹⁷If he dedicates his field during the Year of Jubilee, the value that has been set remains.

¹⁸But if he dedicates his field after the Jubilee, the priest will determine the value according to the number of years that remain until the next Year of Jubilee, and its set value will be reduced.

¹⁹If the man who dedicates the field wishes to redeem it, he must add a fifth to its value, and the field will again become his.

²⁰If, however, he does not redeem the field, or if he has sold it to someone else, it can never be redeemed.

²¹When the field is released in the Jubilee, it will become holy, like a field devoted to the Lord ; it will become the property of the priests.

²²” ‘If a man dedicates to the Lord a field he has bought, which is not part of his family land,

²³the priest will determine its value up to the Year of Jubilee, and the man must pay its value on that day as something holy to the Lord .

²⁴In the Year of Jubilee the field will revert to the person from whom he bought it, the one whose land it was.

²⁵Every value is to be set according to the sanctuary shekel, twenty gerahs to the shekel.

²⁶” ‘No one, however, may dedicate the firstborn of an animal, since the firstborn already belongs to the Lord ; whether an ox or a sheep, it is the Lord ‘s.

²⁷If it is one of the unclean animals, he may buy it back at its set value, adding a fifth of the value to it. If he does not redeem it, it is to be sold at its set value.

²⁸” ‘But nothing that a man owns and devotes to the Lord -whether man or animal or family land-may be sold or redeemed; everything so devoted is most holy to the Lord .

²⁹” ‘No person devoted to destruction may be ransomed; he must be put to death.

³⁰” ‘A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord ; it is holy to the Lord .

³¹If a man redeems any of his tithe, he must add a fifth of the value to it.

³²The entire tithe of the herd and flock-every tenth animal that passes under the shepherd’s rod-will be holy to the Lord .

³³He must not pick out the good from the bad or make any substitution. If he does make a substitution, both the animal and its substitute become holy and cannot be redeemed.’ “

³⁴These are the commands the Lord gave Moses on Mount Sinai for the Israelites.

Welcome to the 2023 King Street Church Bible Reading Plan.  This year we will be following a chronological plan.

In your personal journal, consider answering these questions as part of your devotional time:

 

In this passage…

Leviticus 24-25

24The Lord said to Moses,

²“Command the Israelites to bring you clear oil of pressed olives for the light so that the lamps may be kept burning continually.

³Outside the curtain of the Testimony in the Tent of Meeting, Aaron is to tend the lamps before the Lord from evening till morning, continually. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come.

⁴The lamps on the pure gold lampstand before the Lord must be tended continually.

⁵“Take fine flour and bake twelve loaves of bread, using two-tenths of an ephah for each loaf.

⁶Set them in two rows, six in each row, on the table of pure gold before the Lord .

⁷Along each row put some pure incense as a memorial portion to represent the bread and to be an offering made to the Lord by fire.

⁸This bread is to be set out before the Lord regularly, Sabbath after Sabbath, on behalf of the Israelites, as a lasting covenant.

⁹It belongs to Aaron and his sons, who are to eat it in a holy place, because it is a most holy part of their regular share of the offerings made to the Lord by fire.” A Blasphemer Stoned

¹⁰Now the son of an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father went out among the Israelites, and a fight broke out in the camp between him and an Israelite.

¹¹The son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name with a curse; so they brought him to Moses. (His mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri the Danite.)

¹²They put him in custody until the will of the Lord should be made clear to them.

¹³Then the Lord said to Moses:

¹⁴“Take the blasphemer outside the camp. All those who heard him are to lay their hands on his head, and the entire assembly is to stone him.

¹⁵Say to the Israelites: ‘If anyone curses his God, he will be held responsible;

¹⁶anyone who blasphemes the name of the Lord must be put to death. The entire assembly must stone him. Whether an alien or native-born, when he blasphemes the Name, he must be put to death.

¹⁷” ‘If anyone takes the life of a human being, he must be put to death.

¹⁸Anyone who takes the life of someone’s animal must make restitution-life for life.

¹⁹If anyone injures his neighbor, whatever he has done must be done to him:

²⁰fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. As he has injured the other, so he is to be injured.

²¹Whoever kills an animal must make restitution, but whoever kills a man must be put to death.

²²You are to have the same law for the alien and the native-born. I am the Lord your God.’ “

²³Then Moses spoke to the Israelites, and they took the blasphemer outside the camp and stoned him. The Israelites did as the Lord commanded Moses.

25The Lord said to Moses on Mount Sinai,

²“Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a sabbath to the Lord .

³For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops.

⁴But in the seventh year the land is to have a sabbath of rest, a sabbath to the Lord . Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards.

⁵Do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. The land is to have a year of rest.

⁶Whatever the land yields during the sabbath year will be food for you-for yourself, your manservant and maidservant, and the hired worker and temporary resident who live among you,

⁷as well as for your livestock and the wild animals in your land. Whatever the land produces may be eaten.

⁸” ‘Count off seven sabbaths of years-seven times seven years-so that the seven sabbaths of years amount to a period of forty-nine years.

⁹Then have the trumpet sounded everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement sound the trumpet throughout your land.

¹⁰Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each one of you is to return to his family property and each to his own clan.

¹¹The fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; do not sow and do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the untended vines.

¹²For it is a jubilee and is to be holy for you; eat only what is taken directly from the fields.

¹³” ‘In this Year of Jubilee everyone is to return to his own property.

¹⁴” ‘If you sell land to one of your countrymen or buy any from him, do not take advantage of each other.

¹⁵You are to buy from your countryman on the basis of the number of years since the Jubilee. And he is to sell to you on the basis of the number of years left for harvesting crops.

¹⁶When the years are many, you are to increase the price, and when the years are few, you are to decrease the price, because what he is really selling you is the number of crops.

¹⁷Do not take advantage of each other, but fear your God. I am the Lord your God.

¹⁸” ‘Follow my decrees and be careful to obey my laws, and you will live safely in the land.

¹⁹Then the land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill and live there in safety.

²⁰You may ask, “What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not plant or harvest our crops?”

²¹I will send you such a blessing in the sixth year that the land will yield enough for three years.

²²While you plant during the eighth year, you will eat from the old crop and will continue to eat from it until the harvest of the ninth year comes in.

²³” ‘The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants.

²⁴Throughout the country that you hold as a possession, you must provide for the redemption of the land.

²⁵” ‘If one of your countrymen becomes poor and sells some of his property, his nearest relative is to come and redeem what his countryman has sold.

²⁶If, however, a man has no one to redeem it for him but he himself prospers and acquires sufficient means to redeem it,

²⁷he is to determine the value for the years since he sold it and refund the balance to the man to whom he sold it; he can then go back to his own property.

²⁸But if he does not acquire the means to repay him, what he sold will remain in the possession of the buyer until the Year of Jubilee. It will be returned in the Jubilee, and he can then go back to his property.

²⁹” ‘If a man sells a house in a walled city, he retains the right of redemption a full year after its sale. During that time he may redeem it.

³⁰If it is not redeemed before a full year has passed, the house in the walled city shall belong permanently to the buyer and his descendants. It is not to be returned in the Jubilee.

³¹But houses in villages without walls around them are to be considered as open country. They can be redeemed, and they are to be returned in the Jubilee.

³²” ‘The Levites always have the right to redeem their houses in the Levitical towns, which they possess.

³³So the property of the Levites is redeemable-that is, a house sold in any town they hold-and is to be returned in the Jubilee, because the houses in the towns of the Levites are their property among the Israelites.

³⁴But the pastureland belonging to their towns must not be sold; it is their permanent possession.

³⁵” ‘If one of your countrymen becomes poor and is unable to support himself among you, help him as you would an alien or a temporary resident, so he can continue to live among you.

³⁶Do not take interest of any kind from him, but fear your God, so that your countryman may continue to live among you.

³⁷You must not lend him money at interest or sell him food at a profit.

³⁸I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.

³⁹” ‘If one of your countrymen becomes poor among you and sells himself to you, do not make him work as a slave.

⁴⁰He is to be treated as a hired worker or a temporary resident among you; he is to work for you until the Year of Jubilee.

⁴¹Then he and his children are to be released, and he will go back to his own clan and to the property of his forefathers.

⁴²Because the Israelites are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt, they must not be sold as slaves.

⁴³Do not rule over them ruthlessly, but fear your God.

⁴⁴” ‘Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves.

⁴⁵You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property.

⁴⁶You can will them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly.

⁴⁷” ‘If an alien or a temporary resident among you becomes rich and one of your countrymen becomes poor and sells himself to the alien living among you or to a member of the alien’s clan,

⁴⁸he retains the right of redemption after he has sold himself. One of his relatives may redeem him:

⁴⁹An uncle or a cousin or any blood relative in his clan may redeem him. Or if he prospers, he may redeem himself.

⁵⁰He and his buyer are to count the time from the year he sold himself up to the Year of Jubilee. The price for his release is to be based on the rate paid to a hired man for that number of years.

⁵¹If many years remain, he must pay for his redemption a larger share of the price paid for him.

⁵²If only a few years remain until the Year of Jubilee, he is to compute that and pay for his redemption accordingly.

⁵³He is to be treated as a man hired from year to year; you must see to it that his owner does not rule over him ruthlessly.

⁵⁴” ‘Even if he is not redeemed in any of these ways, he and his children are to be released in the Year of Jubilee,

⁵⁵for the Israelites belong to me as servants. They are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.

Welcome to the 2023 King Street Church Bible Reading Plan.  This year we will be following a chronological plan.

In your personal journal, consider answering these questions as part of your devotional time:

 

In this passage…

Leviticus 22-23

22The Lord said to Moses,

²“Tell Aaron and his sons to treat with respect the sacred offerings the Israelites consecrate to me, so they will not profane my holy name. I am the Lord .

³“Say to them: ‘For the generations to come, if any of your descendants is ceremonially unclean and yet comes near the sacred offerings that the Israelites consecrate to the Lord , that person must be cut off from my presence. I am the Lord .

⁴” ‘If a descendant of Aaron has an infectious skin disease or a bodily discharge, he may not eat the sacred offerings until he is cleansed. He will also be unclean if he touches something defiled by a corpse or by anyone who has an emission of semen,

⁵or if he touches any crawling thing that makes him unclean, or any person who makes him unclean, whatever the uncleanness may be.

⁶The one who touches any such thing will be unclean till evening. He must not eat any of the sacred offerings unless he has bathed himself with water.

⁷When the sun goes down, he will be clean, and after that he may eat the sacred offerings, for they are his food.

⁸He must not eat anything found dead or torn by wild animals, and so become unclean through it. I am the Lord .

⁹” ‘The priests are to keep my requirements so that they do not become guilty and die for treating them with contempt. I am the Lord , who makes them holy.

¹⁰” ‘No one outside a priest’s family may eat the sacred offering, nor may the guest of a priest or his hired worker eat it.

¹¹But if a priest buys a slave with money, or if a slave is born in his household, that slave may eat his food.

¹²If a priest’s daughter marries anyone other than a priest, she may not eat any of the sacred contributions.

¹³But if a priest’s daughter becomes a widow or is divorced, yet has no children, and she returns to live in her father’s house as in her youth, she may eat of her father’s food. No unauthorized person, however, may eat any of it.

¹⁴” ‘If anyone eats a sacred offering by mistake, he must make restitution to the priest for the offering and add a fifth of the value to it.

¹⁵The priests must not desecrate the sacred offerings the Israelites present to the Lord

¹⁶by allowing them to eat the sacred offerings and so bring upon them guilt requiring payment. I am the Lord , who makes them holy.’ “

¹⁷The Lord said to Moses,

¹⁸“Speak to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites and say to them: ‘If any of you-either an Israelite or an alien living in Israel-presents a gift for a burnt offering to the Lord , either to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering,

¹⁹you must present a male without defect from the cattle, sheep or goats in order that it may be accepted on your behalf.

²⁰Do not bring anything with a defect, because it will not be accepted on your behalf.

²¹When anyone brings from the herd or flock a fellowship offering to the Lord to fulfill a special vow or as a freewill offering, it must be without defect or blemish to be acceptable.

²²Do not offer to the Lord the blind, the injured or the maimed, or anything with warts or festering or running sores. Do not place any of these on the altar as an offering made to the Lord by fire.

²³You may, however, present as a freewill offering an ox or a sheep that is deformed or stunted, but it will not be accepted in fulfillment of a vow.

²⁴You must not offer to the Lord an animal whose testicles are bruised, crushed, torn or cut. You must not do this in your own land,

²⁵and you must not accept such animals from the hand of a foreigner and offer them as the food of your God. They will not be accepted on your behalf, because they are deformed and have defects.’ “

²⁶The Lord said to Moses,

²⁷“When a calf, a lamb or a goat is born, it is to remain with its mother for seven days. From the eighth day on, it will be acceptable as an offering made to the Lord by fire.

²⁸Do not slaughter a cow or a sheep and its young on the same day.

²⁹“When you sacrifice a thank offering to the Lord , sacrifice it in such a way that it will be accepted on your behalf.

³⁰It must be eaten that same day; leave none of it till morning. I am the Lord .

³¹“Keep my commands and follow them. I am the Lord .

³²Do not profane my holy name. I must be acknowledged as holy by the Israelites. I am the Lord , who makes you holy

³³and who brought you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord .”

23The Lord said to Moses,

²“Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘These are my appointed feasts, the appointed feasts of the Lord , which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies.

³” ‘There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a Sabbath to the Lord .

⁴” ‘These are the Lord ‘s appointed feasts, the sacred assemblies you are to proclaim at their appointed times:

⁵The Lord ‘s Passover begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month.

⁶On the fifteenth day of that month the Lord ‘s Feast of Unleavened Bread begins; for seven days you must eat bread made without yeast.

⁷On the first day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work.

⁸For seven days present an offering made to the Lord by fire. And on the seventh day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work.’ “

⁹The Lord said to Moses,

¹⁰“Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter the land I am going to give you and you reap its harvest, bring to the priest a sheaf of the first grain you harvest.

¹¹He is to wave the sheaf before the Lord so it will be accepted on your behalf; the priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath.

¹²On the day you wave the sheaf, you must sacrifice as a burnt offering to the Lord a lamb a year old without defect,

¹³together with its grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil-an offering made to the Lord by fire, a pleasing aroma-and its drink offering of a quarter of a hin of wine.

¹⁴You must not eat any bread, or roasted or new grain, until the very day you bring this offering to your God. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live.

¹⁵” ‘From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks.

¹⁶Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to the Lord .

¹⁷From wherever you live, bring two loaves made of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour, baked with yeast, as a wave offering of firstfruits to the Lord .

¹⁸Present with this bread seven male lambs, each a year old and without defect, one young bull and two rams. They will be a burnt offering to the Lord , together with their grain offerings and drink offerings-an offering made by fire, an aroma pleasing to the Lord .

¹⁹Then sacrifice one male goat for a sin offering and two lambs, each a year old, for a fellowship offering.

²⁰The priest is to wave the two lambs before the Lord as a wave offering, together with the bread of the firstfruits. They are a sacred offering to the Lord for the priest.

²¹On that same day you are to proclaim a sacred assembly and do no regular work. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live.

²²” ‘When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the Lord your God.’ “

²³The Lord said to Moses,

²⁴“Say to the Israelites: ‘On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts.

²⁵Do no regular work, but present an offering made to the Lord by fire.’ “

²⁶The Lord said to Moses,

²⁷“The tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. Hold a sacred assembly and deny yourselves, and present an offering made to the Lord by fire.

²⁸Do no work on that day, because it is the Day of Atonement, when atonement is made for you before the Lord your God.

²⁹Anyone who does not deny himself on that day must be cut off from his people.

³⁰I will destroy from among his people anyone who does any work on that day.

³¹You shall do no work at all. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live.

³²It is a sabbath of rest for you, and you must deny yourselves. From the evening of the ninth day of the month until the following evening you are to observe your sabbath.”

³³The Lord said to Moses,

³⁴“Say to the Israelites: ‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month the Lord ‘s Feast of Tabernacles begins, and it lasts for seven days.

³⁵The first day is a sacred assembly; do no regular work.

³⁶For seven days present offerings made to the Lord by fire, and on the eighth day hold a sacred assembly and present an offering made to the Lord by fire. It is the closing assembly; do no regular work.

³⁷(” ‘These are the Lord ‘s appointed feasts, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies for bringing offerings made to the Lord by fire-the burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings required for each day.

³⁸These offerings are in addition to those for the Lord ‘s Sabbaths and in addition to your gifts and whatever you have vowed and all the freewill offerings you give to the Lord .)

³⁹” ‘So beginning with the fifteenth day of the seventh month, after you have gathered the crops of the land, celebrate the festival to the Lord for seven days; the first day is a day of rest, and the eighth day also is a day of rest.

⁴⁰On the first day you are to take choice fruit from the trees, and palm fronds, leafy branches and poplars, and rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days.

⁴¹Celebrate this as a festival to the Lord for seven days each year. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come; celebrate it in the seventh month.

⁴²Live in booths for seven days: All native-born Israelites are to live in booths

⁴³so your descendants will know that I had the Israelites live in booths when I brought them out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.’ “

⁴⁴So Moses announced to the Israelites the appointed feasts of the Lord .