Wednesday, April 24, 2019

Exodus 32:17-35

¹⁷When Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting, he said to Moses, "There is the sound of war in the camp."

¹⁸Moses replied:

"It is not the sound of victory, it is not the sound of defeat; it is the sound of singing that I hear."

¹⁹When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain. ²⁰And he took the calf they had made and burned it in the fire; then he ground it to powder, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it.

²¹He said to Aaron, "What did these people do to you, that you led them into such great sin?"

²²"Do not be angry, my lord," Aaron answered. "You know how prone these people are to evil. ²³They said to me, 'Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don't know what has happened to him.' ²⁴So I told them, 'Whoever has any gold jewelry, take it off.' Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!"

²⁵Moses saw that the people were running wild and that Aaron had let them get out of control and so become a laughingstock to their enemies. ²⁶So he stood at the entrance to the camp and said, "Whoever is for the LORD, come to me." And all the Levites rallied to him.

²⁷Then he said to them, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'Each man strap a sword to his side. Go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each killing his brother and friend and neighbor.' " ²⁸The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people died. ²⁹Then Moses said, "You have been set apart to the LORD today, for you were against your own sons and brothers, and he has blessed you this day."

³⁰The next day Moses said to the people, "You have committed a great sin. But now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin."

³¹So Moses went back to the LORD and said, "Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made themselves gods of gold. ³²But now, please forgive their sin--but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written."

³³The LORD replied to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book. ³⁴Now go, lead the people to the place I spoke of, and my angel will go before you. However, when the time comes for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin."

³⁵And the LORD struck the people with a plague because of what they did with the calf Aaron had made.

Exodus 33:1-6

¹Then the LORD said to Moses, "Leave this place, you and the people you brought up out of Egypt, and go up to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying, 'I will give it to your descendants.' ²I will send an angel before you and drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. ³Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way."

⁴When the people heard these distressing words, they began to mourn and no one put on any ornaments. ⁵For the LORD had said to Moses, "Tell the Israelites, 'You are a stiff-necked people. If I were to go with you even for a moment, I might destroy you. Now take off your ornaments and I will decide what to do with you.' " ⁶So the Israelites stripped off their ornaments at Mount Horeb.

Psalm 105

¹Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done. ²Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts. ³Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice. ⁴Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always. ⁵Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced, ⁶O descendants of Abraham his servant, O sons of Jacob, his chosen ones. ⁷He is the LORD our God; his judgments are in all the earth. ⁸He remembers his covenant forever, the word he commanded, for a thousand generations, ⁹the covenant he made with Abraham, the oath he swore to Isaac. ¹⁰He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, to Israel as an everlasting covenant: ¹¹"To you I will give the land of Canaan as the portion you will inherit." ¹²When they were but few in number, few indeed, and strangers in it, ¹³they wandered from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another. ¹⁴He allowed no one to oppress them; for their sake he rebuked kings: ¹⁵"Do not touch my anointed ones; do my prophets no harm." ¹⁶He called down famine on the land and destroyed all their supplies of food; ¹⁷and he sent a man before them-- Joseph, sold as a slave. ¹⁸They bruised his feet with shackles, his neck was put in irons, ¹⁹till what he foretold came to pass, till the word of the LORD proved him true. ²⁰The king sent and released him, the ruler of peoples set him free. ²¹He made him master of his household, ruler over all he possessed, ²²to instruct his princes as he pleased and teach his elders wisdom. ²³Then Israel entered Egypt; Jacob lived as an alien in the land of Ham. ²⁴The LORD made his people very fruitful; he made them too numerous for their foes, ²⁵whose hearts he turned to hate his people, to conspire against his servants. ²⁶He sent Moses his servant, and Aaron, whom he had chosen. ²⁷They performed his miraculous signs among them, his wonders in the land of Ham. ²⁸He sent darkness and made the land dark-- for had they not rebelled against his words? ²⁹He turned their waters into blood, causing their fish to die. ³⁰Their land teemed with frogs, which went up into the bedrooms of their rulers. ³¹He spoke, and there came swarms of flies, and gnats throughout their country. ³²He turned their rain into hail, with lightning throughout their land; ³³he struck down their vines and fig trees and shattered the trees of their country. ³⁴He spoke, and the locusts came, grasshoppers without number; ³⁵they ate up every green thing in their land, ate up the produce of their soil. ³⁶Then he struck down all the firstborn in their land, the firstfruits of all their manhood. ³⁷He brought out Israel, laden with silver and gold, and from among their tribes no one faltered. ³⁸Egypt was glad when they left, because dread of Israel had fallen on them. ³⁹He spread out a cloud as a covering, and a fire to give light at night. ⁴⁰They asked, and he brought them quail and satisfied them with the bread of heaven. ⁴¹He opened the rock, and water gushed out; like a river it flowed in the desert. ⁴²For he remembered his holy promise given to his servant Abraham. ⁴³He brought out his people with rejoicing, his chosen ones with shouts of joy; ⁴⁴he gave them the lands of the nations, and they fell heir to what others had toiled for-- ⁴⁵that they might keep his precepts and observe his laws. Praise the LORD.

Mark 7:1–13

¹The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and ²saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were "unclean," that is, unwashed. ³(The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. ⁴When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.)

⁵So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, "Why don't your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with 'unclean' hands?"

⁶He replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:

" 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

⁷They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.'

⁸You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men."

⁹And he said to them: "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! ¹⁰For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.' ¹¹But you say that if a man says to his father or mother: 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban' (that is, a gift devoted to God), ¹²then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. ¹³Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that."