Today's Reading

¹The Lord said to Moses in Mount Sinai,

²"Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, 'When you come into the land which I give you, then the land shall keep a Sabbath to the Lord.

³Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather in its fruits;

⁴but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to the Lord. You shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard.

⁵What grows of itself in your harvest you shall not reap, and the grapes of your undressed vine you shall not gather. It shall be a year of solemn rest for the land.

⁶The Sabbath of the land shall be for food for you; for yourself, for your servant, for your maid, for your hired servant, and for your stranger, who lives as a foreigner with you.

⁷For your livestock also, and for the animals that are in your land, shall all its increase be for food.

⁸"'You shall count off seven Sabbaths of years, seven times seven years; and there shall be to you the days of seven Sabbaths of years, even forty-nine years.

⁹Then you shall sound the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the Day of Atonement you shall sound the trumpet throughout all your land.

¹⁰You shall make the fiftieth year holy, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee to you; and each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family.

¹¹That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee to you. In it you shall not sow, neither reap that which grows of itself, nor gather from the undressed vines.

¹²For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you. You shall eat of its increase out of the field.

¹³"'In this Year of Jubilee each of you shall return to his property.

¹⁴"'If you sell anything to your neighbor, or buy from your neighbor, you shall not wrong one another.

¹⁵According to the number of years after the Jubilee you shall buy from your neighbor. According to the number of years of the crops he shall sell to you.

¹⁶According to the length of the years you shall increase its price, and according to the shortness of the years you shall diminish its price; for he is selling the number of the crops to you.

¹⁷You shall not wrong one another; but you shall fear your God: for I am the Lord your God.

¹⁸"'Therefore you shall do my statutes, and keep my ordinances and do them; and you shall dwell in the land in safety.

¹⁹The land shall yield its fruit, and you shall eat your fill, and dwell therein in safety.

²⁰If you said, "What shall we eat the seventh year? Behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase;"

²¹then I will command my blessing on you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for the three years.

²²You shall sow the eighth year, and eat of the fruits, the old store; until the ninth year, until its fruits come in, you shall eat the old store.

²³"'The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine; for you are strangers and live as foreigners with me.

²⁴In all the land of your possession you shall grant a redemption for the land.

²⁵"'If your brother becomes poor, and sells some of his possessions, then his kinsman who is next to him shall come, and redeem that which his brother has sold.

²⁶If a man has no one to redeem it, and he becomes prosperous and finds sufficient means to redeem it;

²⁷then let him reckon the years since its sale, and restore the surplus to the man to whom he sold it; and he shall return to his property.

²⁸But if he isn't able to get it back for himself, then what he has sold shall remain in the hand of him who has bought it until the Year of Jubilee: and in the Jubilee it shall be released, and he shall return to his property.

²⁹"'If a man sells a dwelling house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it has been sold. For a full year he shall have the right of redemption.

³⁰If it isn't redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house that is in the walled city shall be made sure in perpetuity to him who bought it, throughout his generations. It shall not be released in the Jubilee.

³¹But the houses of the villages which have no wall around them shall be reckoned with the fields of the country; they may be redeemed; and they shall be released in the Jubilee.

³²"'Nevertheless the cities of the Levites, the houses in the cities of their possession, the Levites may redeem forever.

³³The Levites may redeem the house that was sold, and the city of his possession, and it shall be released in the Jubilee; for the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession among the children of Israel.

³⁴But the field of the suburbs of their cities may not be sold; for it is their perpetual possession.

³⁵"'If your brother has become poor, and his hand can't support him among you; then you shall uphold him. As a stranger and a sojourner he shall live with you.

³⁶Take no interest from him or profit, but fear your God; that your brother may live among you.

³⁷You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor give him your food for profit.

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

³⁹"'If your brother has grown poor among you, and sells himself to you; you shall not make him to serve as a slave.

⁴⁰As a hired servant, and as a sojourner, he shall be with you; he shall serve with you until the Year of Jubilee:

⁴¹then he shall go out from you, he and his children with him, and shall return to his own family, and to the possession of his fathers.

⁴²For they are my servants, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt. They shall not be sold as slaves.

⁴³You shall not rule over him with harshness, but shall fear your God.

⁴⁴"'As for your male and your female slaves, whom you may have; of the nations that are around you, from them you may buy male and female slaves.

⁴⁵Moreover of the children of the strangers who sojourn among you, of them you may buy, and of their families who are with you, which they have conceived in your land; and they will be your property.

⁴⁶You may make them an inheritance for your children after you, to hold for a possession; of them may you take your slaves forever: but over your brothers the children of Israel you shall not rule, one over another, with harshness.

⁴⁷"'If a stranger or sojourner with you becomes rich, and your brother beside him has grown poor, and sells himself to the stranger or foreigner living among you, or to a member of the stranger's family;

⁴⁸after he is sold he may be redeemed. One of his brothers may redeem him;

⁴⁹or his uncle, or his uncle's son, may redeem him, or any who is a close relative to him of his family may redeem him; or if he has grown rich, he may redeem himself.

⁵⁰He shall reckon with him who bought him from the year that he sold himself to him to the Year of Jubilee: and the price of his sale shall be according to the number of years; according to the time of a hired servant shall he be with him.

⁵¹If there are yet many years, according to them he shall give back the price of his redemption out of the money that he was bought for.

⁵²If there remain but a few years to the year of jubilee, then he shall reckon with him; according to his years of service he shall give back the price of his redemption.

⁵³As a servant hired year by year shall he be with him: he shall not rule with harshness over him in your sight.

⁵⁴If he isn't redeemed by these means, then he shall be released in the Year of Jubilee, he, and his children with him.

⁵⁵For to me the children of Israel are servants; they are my servants whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.

¹"'You shall make for yourselves no idols, neither shall you raise up an engraved image or a pillar, neither shall you place any figured stone in your land, to bow down to it: for I am the Lord your God.

²"'You shall keep my Sabbaths, and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am the Lord.

³"'If you walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them;

⁴then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.

⁵Your threshing shall reach to the vintage, and the vintage shall reach to the sowing time; and you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely.

⁶"'I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and no one will make you afraid; and I will remove evil animals out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land.

⁷You shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword.

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

⁹"'I will have respect for you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and will establish my covenant with you.

¹⁰You shall eat old store long kept, and you shall move out the old because of the new.

¹¹I will set my tent among you: and my soul won't abhor you.

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

¹³I am the Lord your God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves; and I have broken the bars of your yoke, and made you go upright.

¹⁴"'But if you will not listen to me, and will not do all these commandments;

¹⁵and if you shall reject my statutes, and if your soul abhors my ordinances, so that you will not do all my commandments, but break my covenant;

¹⁶I also will do this to you: I will appoint terror over you, even consumption and fever, that shall consume the eyes, and make the soul to pine away; and you will sow your seed in vain, for your enemies will eat it.

¹⁷I will set my face against you, and you will be struck before your enemies. Those who hate you will rule over you; and you will flee when no one pursues you.

¹⁸"'If you in spite of these things will not listen to me, then I will chastise you seven times more for your sins.

¹⁹I will break the pride of your power, and I will make your sky like iron, and your soil like brass;

²⁰and your strength will be spent in vain; for your land won't yield its increase, neither will the trees of the land yield their fruit.

²¹"'If you walk contrary to me, and won't listen to me, then I will bring seven times more plagues on you according to your sins.

²²I will send the wild animals among you, which will rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and make you few in number; and your roads will become desolate.

²³"'If by these things you won't be reformed to me, but will walk contrary to me;

²⁴then I will also walk contrary to you; and I will strike you, even I, seven times for your sins.

²⁵I will bring a sword upon you, that will execute the vengeance of the covenant; and you will be gathered together within your cities: and I will send the pestilence among you; and you will be delivered into the hand of the enemy.

²⁶When I break your staff of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver your bread again by weight: and you shall eat, and not be satisfied.

²⁷"'If you in spite of this won't listen to me, but walk contrary to me;

²⁸then I will walk contrary to you in wrath; and I also will chastise you seven times for your sins.

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

³⁰I will destroy your high places, and cut down your incense altars, and cast your dead bodies upon the bodies of your idols; and my soul will abhor you.

³¹I will lay your cities waste, and will bring your sanctuaries to desolation, and I will not take delight in the sweet fragrance of your offerings.

³²I will bring the land into desolation; and your enemies that dwell therein will be astonished at it.

³³I will scatter you among the nations, and I will draw out the sword after you: and your land will be a desolation, and your cities shall be a waste.

³⁴Then the land will enjoy its sabbaths as long as it lies desolate and you are in your enemies' land. Even then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths.

³⁵As long as it lies desolate it shall have rest, even the rest which it did not have in your sabbaths, when you lived on it.

³⁶"'As for those of you who are left, I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies: and the sound of a driven leaf will put them to flight; and they shall flee, as one flees from the sword; and they will fall when no one pursues.

³⁷They will stumble over one another, as it were before the sword, when no one pursues: and you will have no power to stand before your enemies.

³⁸You will perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies will eat you up.

³⁹Those of you who are left will pine away in their iniquity in your enemies' lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them.

⁴⁰"'If they confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, in their trespass which they trespassed against me, and also that, because they walked contrary to me,

⁴¹I also walked contrary to them, and brought them into the land of their enemies: if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled, and they then accept the punishment of their iniquity;

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

⁴³The land also will be left by them, and will enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them: and they will accept the punishment of their iniquity; because, even because they rejected my ordinances, and their soul abhorred my statutes.

⁴⁴Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them; for I am the Lord their God;

⁴⁵but I will for their sake remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God. I am the Lord.'"

⁴⁶These are the statutes, ordinances and laws, which the Lord made between him and the children of Israel in Mount Sinai by Moses.

¹The Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

²"Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, 'When a man makes a vow, the persons shall be for the Lord by your valuation.

³Your valuation shall be of a male from twenty years old even to sixty years old, even your valuation shall be fifty shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary.

⁴If it is a female, then your valuation shall be thirty shekels.

⁵If the person is from five years old even to twenty years old, then your valuation shall be for a male twenty shekels, and for a female ten shekels.

⁶If the person is from a month old even to five years old, then your valuation shall be for a male five shekels of silver, and for a female your valuation shall be three shekels of silver.

⁷If the person is from sixty years old and upward; if it is a male, then your valuation shall be fifteen shekels, and for a female ten shekels.

⁸But if he is poorer than your valuation, then he shall be set before the priest, and the priest shall value him; according to the ability of him who vowed shall the priest value him.

⁹"'If it is an animal, of which men offer an offering to the Lord, all that any man gives of such to the Lord becomes holy.

¹⁰He shall not alter it, nor change it, a good for a bad, or a bad for a good: and if he shall at all change animal for animal, then both it and that for which it is changed shall be holy.

¹¹If it is any unclean animal, of which they do not offer as an offering to the Lord, then he shall set the animal before the priest;

¹²and the priest shall value it, whether it is good or bad. As you the priest values it, so shall it be.

¹³But if he will indeed redeem it, then he shall add the fifth part of it to its valuation.

¹⁴"'When a man dedicates his house to be holy to the Lord, then the priest shall evaluate it, whether it is good or bad: as the priest shall evaluate it, so shall it stand.

¹⁵If he who dedicates it will redeem his house, then he shall add the fifth part of the money of your valuation to it, and it shall be his.

¹⁶"'If a man dedicates to the Lord part of the field of his possession, then your valuation shall be according to the seed for it: the sowing of a homer of barley shall be valued at fifty shekels of silver.

¹⁷If he dedicates his field from the Year of Jubilee, according to your valuation it shall stand.

¹⁸But if he dedicates his field after the Jubilee, then the priest shall reckon to him the money according to the years that remain to the Year of Jubilee; and an abatement shall be made from your valuation.

¹⁹If he who dedicated the field will indeed redeem it, then he shall add the fifth part of the money of your valuation to it, and it shall remain his.

²⁰If he will not redeem the field, or if he has sold the field to another man, it shall not be redeemed any more;

²¹but the field, when it goes out in the Jubilee, shall be holy to the Lord, as a field devoted; it shall be owned by the priests.

²²"'If he dedicates to the Lord a field which he has bought, which is not of the field of his possession,

²³then the priest shall reckon to him the worth of your valuation up to the Year of Jubilee; and he shall give your valuation on that day, as a holy thing to the Lord.

²⁴In the Year of Jubilee the field shall return to him from whom it was bought, even to him to whom the possession of the land belongs.

²⁵All your valuations shall be according to the shekel of the sanctuary: twenty gerahs to the shekel.

²⁶"'Only the firstborn among animals, which is made a firstborn to the Lord, no man may dedicate it; whether an ox or sheep, it is the Lord's.

²⁷If it is an unclean animal, then he shall buy it back according to your valuation, and shall add to it the fifth part of it: or if it isn't redeemed, then it shall be sold according to your valuation.

²⁸"'Notwithstanding, no devoted thing, that a man shall devote to the Lord of all that he has, whether of man or animal, or of the field of his possession, shall be sold or redeemed: every devoted thing is most holy to the Lord.

²⁹"'No one devoted, who shall be devoted from among men, shall be ransomed; he shall surely be put to death.

³⁰"'All the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is the Lord's. It is holy to the Lord.

³¹If a man redeems anything of his tithe, he shall add a fifth part to it.

³²All the tithe of the herds or the flocks, whatever passes under the rod, the tenth shall be holy to the Lord.

³³He shall not search whether it is good or bad, neither shall he change it: and if he changes it at all, then both it and that for which it is changed shall be holy. It shall not be redeemed.'"

³⁴These are the commandments which the Lord commanded Moses for the children of Israel on Mount Sinai.

¹When they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples,

²and said to them, "Go your way into the village that is opposite you. Immediately as you enter into it, you will find a young donkey tied, on which no one has yet sat. Untie him, and bring him.

³If anyone asks you, 'Why are you doing this?' say, 'The Lord needs him;' and immediately he will send him back here."

⁴They went away, and found a colt tied at the door outside in the open street, and they untied him.

⁵Some of those who stood there asked them, "What are you doing, untying the young donkey?"

⁶They said to them just as Jesus had said, and they let them go.

⁷They brought the young donkey to Jesus, and threw their garments on it, and Jesus sat on it.

⁸Many spread their garments on the way, and others cut down branches from the trees.

⁹Those who went in front, and those who followed, shouted, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!

¹⁰Blessed is the kingdom of our father David. Hosanna in the highest!"

¹¹And he entered into the temple in Jerusalem. When he had looked around at everything, it being now evening, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

¹²The next day, when they had come out from Bethany, he was hungry.

¹³Seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came to see if perhaps he might find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.

¹⁴Jesus told it, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again!" and his disciples heard it.

¹⁵They came to Jerusalem, and he entered into the temple, and began to throw out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers, and the seats of those who sold the doves.

¹⁶He would not allow anyone to carry a container through the temple.

¹⁷He taught, saying to them, "Is not it written, 'My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations?' But you have made it a den of robbers!"

¹⁸The chief priests and the scribes heard it, and sought how they might destroy him. For they feared him, because all the multitude was astonished at his teaching.

¹⁹When evening came, he went out of the city.

²⁰As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away from the roots.

²¹Peter, remembering, said to him, "Teacher, look! The fig tree which you cursed has withered away."

²²Jesus answered them, "Have faith in God.

²³Truly I tell you, whoever may tell this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is happening; it will be done for him.

²⁴Therefore I tell you, all things whatever you pray and ask for, believe that you have received them, and you shall have them.

²⁵Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father, who is in heaven, may also forgive you your transgressions."

²⁶

²⁷They came again to Jerusalem, and as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders came to him,

²⁸and they began saying to him, "By what authority do you do these things? And who gave you this authority to do these things?"

²⁹Jesus said to them, "I will also ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.

³⁰The baptism of John-was it from heaven, or from man? Answer me."

³¹They reasoned with themselves, saying, "If we should say, 'From heaven;' he will say, 'Why then did you not believe him?'

³²If we should say, 'From man'"-they feared the crowd, for all held John to really be a prophet.

³³They answered and said to Jesus, "We do not know." Jesus said to them, "Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things."

¹ I said, "I will watch my ways, so that I do not sin with my tongue. I will keep my mouth with a bridle while the wicked is before me."

²I was mute with silence. I held my peace, even from good. My sorrow was stirred.

³My heart was hot within me. While I meditated, the fire burned: I spoke with my tongue:

⁴"Lord, show me my end, what is the measure of my days. Let me know how frail I am.

⁵Behold, you have made my days handbreadths. My lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely every man stands as a breath." Selah.

⁶"Surely every man walks like a shadow. Surely they busy themselves in vain. He heaps up, and doesn't know who shall gather.

⁷Now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in you.

⁸Deliver me from all my transgressions. Do not make me the reproach of the foolish.

⁹I was mute. I did not open my mouth, because you did it.

¹⁰Remove your scourge away from me. I am overcome by the blow of your hand.

¹¹When you rebuke and correct man for iniquity, You consume his wealth like a moth. Surely every man is but a breath." Selah.

¹²"Hear my prayer, Lord, and give ear to my cry. Do not be silent at my tears. For I am a stranger with you, a foreigner, as all my fathers were.

¹³Oh spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go away, and exist no more."

¹Doesn't wisdom cry out? Doesn't understanding raise her voice?

²On the top of high places by the way, where the paths meet, she stands.

³Beside the gates, at the entry of the city, at the entry doors, she cries aloud:

⁴"To you men, I call! I send my voice to the sons of mankind.

⁵You simple, understand prudence. You fools, be of an understanding heart.

⁶Hear, for I will speak excellent things. The opening of my lips is for right things.

⁷For my mouth speaks truth. Wickedness is an abomination to my lips.

⁸All the words of my mouth are in righteousness. There is nothing crooked or perverse in them.

⁹They are all plain to him who understands, right to those who find knowledge.

¹⁰Receive my instruction rather than silver; knowledge rather than choice gold.

¹¹For wisdom is better than rubies. All the things that may be desired can't be compared to it.

¹²"I, wisdom, have made prudence my dwelling. Find out knowledge and discretion.

¹³The fear of the Lord is to hate evil. I hate pride, arrogance, the evil way, and the perverse mouth.

¹⁴Counsel and sound knowledge are mine. I have understanding and power.

¹⁵By me kings reign, and princes decree justice.

¹⁶By me princes rule; nobles, and all the righteous rulers of the earth.

¹⁷I love those who love me. Those who seek me diligently will find me.

¹⁸With me are riches, honor, enduring wealth, and prosperity.

¹⁹My fruit is better than gold, yes, than fine gold; my yield than choice silver.

²⁰I walk in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of justice;

²¹That I may give wealth to those who love me. I fill their treasuries.

²²"The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his work, before his deeds of old.

²³I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, before the earth existed.

²⁴When there were no depths, I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding with water.

²⁵Before the mountains were settled in place, before the hills, I was brought forth;

²⁶while as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the beginning of the dust of the world.

²⁷When he established the heavens, I was there; when he set a circle on the surface of the deep,

²⁸when he established the clouds above, when the springs of the deep became strong,

²⁹when he gave to the sea its boundary, that the waters should not violate his commandment, when he marked out the foundations of the earth;

³⁰then I was the craftsman by his side. I was a delight day by day, always rejoicing before him,

³¹Rejoicing in his whole world. My delight was with the sons of men.

³²"Now therefore, my sons, listen to me, for blessed are those who keep my ways.

³³Hear instruction, and be wise. Do not refuse it.

³⁴Blessed is the man who hears me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at my door posts.

³⁵For whoever finds me, finds life, and will obtain favor from the Lord.

³⁶But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul. All those who hate me love death."