Numbers 11:1-14:10
1 Now the people were grumbling evilly before the Lord, and the Lord heard them and was provoked to anger. So the fire of the Lord burned among them and utterly destroyed part of the camp. 2 Then the people cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the Lord; and the fire was quenched. 3 So he called the name of the place Burning, because fire from the Lord burned among them.
4 Now the mixed multitude among them hungered exceedingly; and sitting down, the children of Israel were also weeping, and said, “Who will give us meat to eat? 5 We remember the fish we ate freely in Egypt, and the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; 6 but now our soul is dried up; there is nothing before our eyes except this manna.” 7 Now the manna is like coriander seed, and its form is like the form of ice pellets. 8 The people would go about and gather it, and grind it on millstones or beat it in the mortar, then cook it in pots, and make cakes of it; and its flavor was like the taste of a pastry prepared with oil and honey. 9 And when the dew descended on the camp in the night, the manna descended upon it.
Seventy Elders
10 Then Moses heard the people weeping throughout their tribes, everyone at his door; and the anger of the Lord was greatly aroused; Moses also was displeased. 11 So Moses said to the Lord, “Why have You maltreated Your servant? Why have I not found grace in Your sight, that You lay the wrath of this people on me? 12 Did I conceive all these people? Did I beget them, that You should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a guardian carries a nursing child,’ to the land You swore to their fathers? 13 Where am I to get meat to give to all these people? For they weep all over me, saying, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat.’ 14 I am not able to bear this people alone, because the burden is too heavy for me. 15 If You treat me like this, kill me here and now—if I find mercy in Your sight—and do not let me see my maltreatment.”
16 So the Lord said to Moses, “Gather to Me seventy men from the elders of Israel, whom you yourself know to be the elders of the people and officers over them; bring them to the tabernacle of testimony, so they may stand there with you. 17 Then I will descend and talk with you there. I will take of the Spirit upon you and put Him upon them; and they shall help you bear the wrath of the people, that you yourself may not bear them alone. 18 Then you shall say to the people, ‘Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat; for you have wept before the Lord, saying, “Who will give us meat to eat? For it was well with us in Egypt.” Therefore the Lord will give you meat to eat, and you shall eat. 19 You shall eat, not one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days, 20 but for a whole month you shall eat, until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you disobeyed the Lord, who is among you, and have wept before Him, saying, “Why did we ever come up out of Egypt?” ’ ”
21 Then Moses said, “The people I am among are six hundred thousand men on foot; yet You are saying, ‘I will give them meat, so they may eat for a whole month.’ 22 Shall sheep and oxen be slaughtered for them, to provide enough for them? Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to provide enough for them?”
23 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Is the Lord’s hand unable to provide for them? Now you shall know whether or not My word will overtake you.” 24 So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord; and he gathered the seventy men of the elders of the people and placed them around the tabernacle. 25 Then the Lord descended in the cloud and spoke to him, and took of the Spirit upon him, and put Him upon the seventy men of the elders; and when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, although they never did so again. 26 But two men remained in the camp: the name of one was Eldad, and the name of the other, Medad, and the Spirit rested upon them. Now they were among those registered, but had not come to the tabernacle; yet they prophesied in the camp. 27 So a young man ran and told Moses, and said, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.” 28 Then Joshua the son of Nun, who was near Moses, one of his choice men, answered and said, “Lord Moses, forbid them.” 29 Then Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people might be prophets, when the Lord would put His Spirit upon them.” 30 So Moses returned to the camp, both he and the elders of Israel.
The Quail
31 Now a wind went out from the Lord and brought birds from the sea that migrate together with quail, and cast them upon the camp, about a day’s journey on this side and about a day’s journey on the other side, all around the camp, and about two cubits above the surface of the ground. 32 Then the people stayed up all that day, all night, and all the next day, and gathered the birds (he who gathered least gathered ten cors); and they spread the meat out to dry for themselves all around the camp. 33 But while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the Lord’s anger was aroused against the people, and the Lord struck the people with a very great plague. 34 So he called the name of that place Graves of Lust, because there they buried the people who lusted. 35 Then the people broke camp to go to Hazeroth, and they camped at Hazeroth.
Miriam Is Disciplined
1 Now Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he married; for he married an Ethiopian woman. 2 So they said, “Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us also?” But the Lord heard it. 3 (Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all men on the face of the earth.) 4 Suddenly the Lord said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, “Come out, you three, to the tabernacle of testimony.” So the three came out to the tabernacle of testimony. 5 Then the Lord descended in the pillar of cloud, and stood upon the door of the tabernacle of testimony; and He called Aaron and Miriam, and both went forward. 6 Then He said, “Hear now My words: Should a prophet of yours belong to the Lord, I would make Myself known to him in a vision; I would speak to him in a dream. 7 Not so with My servant Moses; He is faithful in all My house. 8 I speak with him face to face, even in visible form, and not in obscure sayings; and he saw the Lord’s glory. Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses?” 9 So the Lord’s anger was aroused against them, and He departed.
10 But when the cloud departed from the tabernacle, suddenly Miriam became leprous, as white as snow. Then Aaron turned toward Miriam, and there she was, a leper. 11 So Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord, I beg you, do not lay an extra charge of sin on us, because we were ignorant, and did not know we sinned. 12 Do not let her be as one dead, like a miscarriage with its flesh half consumed.” 13 So Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, “Heal her, I beg you, O God.” 14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, would she not be shamed seven days? Let her be shut out of the camp seven days, and afterward let her enter.” 15 So Miriam was shut out of the camp seven days, and the people did not break camp till Miriam was cleansed.
16 After this, the people broke camp at Hazeroth, and camped in the Desert of Paran.
The Spies
1 Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel; from each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a ruler among them.” 3 So Moses sent them from the Desert of Paran at the Lord’s voice, and all the men were rulers of the children of Israel. 4 Now these were their names: from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur; 5 from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori; 6 from the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh; 7 from the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph; 8 from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Nun; 9 from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu; 10 from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi; 11 from the tribe of Joseph, that is, from the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi; 12 from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli; 13 from the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael; 14 from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi; 15 from the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi. 16 These are the names of the men Moses sent to spy out the land. Now Moses called Hoshea, the son of Nun, Joshua.
17 Then Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan and said to them, “Go up to this desert, and go up to the mountain; 18 and you will see the land, and the people who dwell upon it. What are they? Are they strong or weak, few or many? 19 Also, what is the land they dwell in? Is it good or bad? Then too, what about the cities they inhabit? Are they walled or unwalled? 20 Then again, what about the ground? Is it fertile or neglected? Are there trees on it? Persevere, and you shall receive some of the fruits of the land.” Now the days were the days of spring, the forerunner of the grapes. 21 So they went up and spied out the land from the Desert of Zin as far as Rehob, near the entrance of Hamath. 22 Then they went up through the desert and came to Hebron; Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, were there. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) 23 Then they came to the Valley of Eshcol and surveyed it, and cut down a branch there with one cluster of grapes; they carried it between two of them on a pole. They also brought some of the pomegranates and figs. 24 The place was called the Valley of Eshcol because of the cluster the sons of Israel cut down there.
25 Then they returned from spying out the land after forty days. 26 Now they departed and came back to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the children of Israel in the Desert of Paran, at Kadesh; they brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 Then they told him and said, “We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. 28 Nevertheless, the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites dwell in the land toward the south; the Hittites, the Evites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountains; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan.” 30 Then Caleb quieted the people towards Moses, and said to him, “No, but let us go up at once and take possession of it, for we are well able to overcome them.” 31 But the men who went up with him said, “We are not going up, for we are unable to go up against them, because they are stronger than we.” 32 So they instilled a terror for the land which they spied out among the children of Israel, saying, “The land through which we went as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people we saw in it are men of great stature. 33 There we saw the giants; and we seemed like grasshoppers to them, but so we actually were.”
The People Murmur
1 Now all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. 2 All the children of Israel were murmuring against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “Would we had died in the land of Egypt, or in this desert. 3 Why did the Lord bring us to this land to fall in war? Our wives and children shall be plundered. It is better for us to return to Egypt.” 4 So they said to one another, “Let us select a ruler and return to Egypt.”
5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the congregation of the children of Israel. 6 But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who spied out the land, tore their clothes; 7 and they spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, “The land we passed through to spy out is an extremely good land. 8 Since the Lord chooses us, He will bring us into this land and give it to us, ‘a land that flows with milk and honey.’ 9 But do not apostatize from the Lord, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our food; their time has come and gone, but the Lord is with us. Do not fear them.” 10 Then all the congregation said to stone them with stones. Now the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud upon the tabernacle of testimony before all the children of Israel.
Psalm 44
1 For the End, concerning things that shall be changed; to the sons of Korah for understanding; an ode concerning the Beloved One.
2 My heart overflowed with a good word;
I tell my works to the King;
My tongue is the pen of a swift-writing scribe.
3 You are more beautiful than the sons of men;
Grace was poured out on Your lips;
Therefore God blessed You forever.
4 Gird Your sword upon Your thigh, O Mighty One,
In Your splendor and Your beauty.
5 And stretch Your bow, and grant prosperity, and reign
Because of truth, gentleness, and righteousness,
And Your right hand shall guide You wondrously.
6 Your arrows are sharp, O Mighty One (The peoples shall fall under You),
In the heart of the King’s enemies.
7 Your throne, O God, is forever and ever;
Your royal scepter is a scepter of uprightness.
8 You loved righteousness and hated lawlessness;
Therefore God, Your God, anointed You
With the oil of gladness more than Your companions.
9 Myrrh and stacte and cassia pour forth from Your garments,
From the ivory palaces from which they gladdened You.
10 There are daughters of kings in Your honor;
The queen stood at Your right hand in apparel interwoven with gold,
And adorned and embroidered with various colors.
11 Listen, O daughter, behold and incline your ear,
And forget your people and your father’s house;
12 For the King desired your beauty,
For He is your Lord.
13 And the daughters of Tyre shall worship Him with gifts;
The rich among the people shall entreat your favor.
14 All her glory as the King’s daughter is within,
Adorned and embroidered with golden tassels.
15 The virgins behind her shall be brought to the King;
Her neighbors shall be brought to You;
16 They shall be brought with gladness and rejoicing;
They shall be led into the temple of the King.
17 In place of your fathers, sons shall be born to you;
You shall make them rulers over all the earth.
18 They shall remember your name from generation to generation;
Therefore, peoples shall give thanks to you
Forever and unto ages of ages.
Proverbs 9:7–11
7 He who chastises evil men shall receive dishonor to himself,
And he who reproves the ungodly man shall be blamed himself.
8 Do not reprove evil men, so they may not hate you;
Reprove a wise man, and he will love you.
9 Give the opportunity to a wise man, and he will be wiser;
Instruct a righteous man, and he shall continue to receive it.
10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
And the counsel of saints is understanding;
For to know the law is characteristic of a good mind.
11 For in this manner you will live a long time,
And the years of your life shall be increased.
Mark 1:1–20
1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
2 As it is written in the Prophets:
“Behold, I send My messenger before Your face,
Who will prepare Your way before You.”
3 “The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord;
Make His paths straight.’ ”
4 John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.
5 Then all the land of Judea, and those from Jerusalem, went out to him and were all baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.
6 Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.
7 And he preached, saying, “There comes One after me who is mightier than I, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to stoop down and loose.
8 “I indeed baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
John Baptizes Jesus
9 It came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan.
10 And immediately, coming up from the water, He saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending upon Him like a dove.
11 Then a voice came from heaven, “You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
Satan Tempts Jesus
12 Immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness.
13 And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to Him.
Jesus Begins His Galilean Ministry
14 Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,
15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”
Four Fishermen Called as Disciples
16 And as He walked by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.
17 Then Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”
18 They immediately left their nets and followed Him.
19 When He had gone a little farther from there, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the boat mending their nets.20 And immediately He called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went after Him.