Thursday, April 25, 2019

Exodus 33:7–23

⁷Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp some distance away, calling it the "tent of meeting." Anyone inquiring of the LORD would go to the tent of meeting outside the camp. ⁸And whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people rose and stood at the entrances to their tents, watching Moses until he entered the tent. ⁹As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance, while the LORD spoke with Moses. ¹⁰Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they all stood and worshiped, each at the entrance to his tent. ¹¹The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent.

¹²Moses said to the LORD, "You have been telling me, 'Lead these people,' but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, 'I know you by name and you have found favor with me.' ¹³If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people."

¹⁴The LORD replied, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest."

¹⁵Then Moses said to him, "If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. ¹⁶How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?"

¹⁷And the LORD said to Moses, "I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name."

¹⁸Then Moses said, "Now show me your glory."

¹⁹And the LORD said, "I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. ²⁰But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live."

²¹Then the LORD said, "There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. ²²When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. ²³Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen."

Psalm 106

¹Praise the LORD. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. ²Who can proclaim the mighty acts of the LORD or fully declare his praise? ³Blessed are they who maintain justice, who constantly do what is right. ⁴Remember me, O LORD, when you show favor to your people, come to my aid when you save them, ⁵that I may enjoy the prosperity of your chosen ones, that I may share in the joy of your nation and join your inheritance in giving praise. ⁶We have sinned, even as our fathers did; we have done wrong and acted wickedly. ⁷When our fathers were in Egypt, they gave no thought to your miracles; they did not remember your many kindnesses, and they rebelled by the sea, the Red Sea. ⁸Yet he saved them for his name's sake, to make his mighty power known. ⁹He rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up; he led them through the depths as through a desert. ¹⁰He saved them from the hand of the foe; from the hand of the enemy he redeemed them. ¹¹The waters covered their adversaries; not one of them survived. ¹²Then they believed his promises and sang his praise. ¹³But they soon forgot what he had done and did not wait for his counsel. ¹⁴In the desert they gave in to their craving; in the wasteland they put God to the test. ¹⁵So he gave them what they asked for, but sent a wasting disease upon them. ¹⁶In the camp they grew envious of Moses and of Aaron, who was consecrated to the LORD. ¹⁷The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan; it buried the company of Abiram. ¹⁸Fire blazed among their followers; a flame consumed the wicked. ¹⁹At Horeb they made a calf and worshiped an idol cast from metal. ²⁰They exchanged their Glory for an image of a bull, which eats grass. ²¹They forgot the God who saved them, who had done great things in Egypt, ²²miracles in the land of Ham and awesome deeds by the Red Sea. ²³So he said he would destroy them-- had not Moses, his chosen one, stood in the breach before him to keep his wrath from destroying them. ²⁴Then they despised the pleasant land; they did not believe his promise. ²⁵They grumbled in their tents and did not obey the LORD. ²⁶So he swore to them with uplifted hand that he would make them fall in the desert, ²⁷make their descendants fall among the nations and scatter them throughout the lands. ²⁸They yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor and ate sacrifices offered to lifeless gods; ²⁹they provoked the LORD to anger by their wicked deeds, and a plague broke out among them. ³⁰But Phinehas stood up and intervened, and the plague was checked. ³¹This was credited to him as righteousness for endless generations to come. ³²By the waters of Meribah they angered the LORD, and trouble came to Moses because of them; ³³for they rebelled against the Spirit of God, and rash words came from Moses' lips. ³⁴They did not destroy the peoples as the LORD had commanded them, ³⁵but they mingled with the nations and adopted their customs. ³⁶They worshiped their idols, which became a snare to them. ³⁷They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons. ³⁸They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was desecrated by their blood. ³⁹They defiled themselves by what they did; by their deeds they prostituted themselves. ⁴⁰Therefore the LORD was angry with his people and abhorred his inheritance. ⁴¹He handed them over to the nations, and their foes ruled over them. ⁴²Their enemies oppressed them and subjected them to their power. ⁴³Many times he delivered them, but they were bent on rebellion and they wasted away in their sin. ⁴⁴But he took note of their distress when he heard their cry; ⁴⁵for their sake he remembered his covenant and out of his great love he relented. ⁴⁶He caused them to be pitied by all who held them captive. ⁴⁷Save us, O LORD our God, and gather us from the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name and glory in your praise. ⁴⁸Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Let all the people say, "Amen!" Praise the LORD.

Mark 7:14–30

¹⁴Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. ¹⁵Nothing outside a man can make him 'unclean' by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him 'unclean.' " (¹⁶)

¹⁷After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. ¹⁸"Are you so dull?" he asked. "Don't you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him 'unclean'? ¹⁹For it doesn't go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body." (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods "clean.")

²⁰He went on: "What comes out of a man is what makes him 'unclean.' ²¹For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, ²²greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. ²³All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean.'"

²⁴Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret. ²⁵In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an evil spirit came and fell at his feet. ²⁶The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter.

²⁷"First let the children eat all they want," he told her, "for it is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs."

²⁸"Yes, Lord," she replied, "but even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs."

²⁹Then he told her, "For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter."

³⁰She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.