Matthew 15:21-39; Leviticus 26; Leviticus 27; Ecclesiastes 1:12-18; Ecclesiastes 2

Matthew 15:21-39

21 When Jesus left there, He withdrew to the area of Tyre and Sidon.

22 Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came and kept crying out, "Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is cruelly tormented by a demon."

23 Yet He did not say a word to her. So His disciples approached Him and urged Him, "Send her away because she cries out after us."

24 He replied, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."

25 But she came, knelt before Him, and said, "Lord, help me!"

26 He answered, "It isn't right to take the children's bread and throw it to their dogs."

27 "Yes, Lord," she said, "yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table!"

28 Then Jesus replied to her, "Woman, your faith is great. Let it be done for you as you want." And from that moment her daughter was cured.

29 Moving on from there, Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee. He went up on a mountain and sat there,

30 and large crowds came to Him, having with them the lame, the blind, the deformed, those unable to speak, and many others. They put them at His feet, and He healed them.

31 So the crowd was amazed when they saw those unable to speak talking, the deformed restored, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they gave glory to the God of Israel.

32 Now Jesus summoned His disciples and said, "I have compassion on the crowd, because they've already stayed with Me three days and have nothing to eat. I don't want to send them away hungry; otherwise they might collapse on the way."

33 The disciples said to Him, "Where could we get enough bread in this desolate place to fill such a crowd?"

34 "How many loaves do you have?" Jesus asked them. "Seven," they said, "and a few small fish."

35 After commanding the crowd to sit down on the ground,

36 He took the seven loaves and the fish, and He gave thanks, broke them, and kept on giving them to the disciples, and the disciples [gave them] to the crowds.

37 They all ate and were filled. Then they collected the leftover pieces-seven large baskets full.

38 Now those who ate were 4,000 men, besides women and children.

39 After dismissing the crowds, He got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan.

Leviticus 26

1 "Do not make idols for yourselves, set up a carved image or sacred pillar for yourselves, or place a sculpted stone in your land to bow down to it, for I am the Lord your God.

2 You must keep My Sabbaths and honor My sanctuary; I am the Lord.

3 "If you follow My statutes and faithfully observe My commands,

4 I will give you rain at the right time, and the land will yield its produce, and the trees of the field will bear their fruit.

5 Your threshing will continue until grape harvest, and the grape harvest will continue until sowing time; you will have plenty of food to eat and live securely in your land.

6 I will give peace to the land, and you will lie down with nothing to frighten [you]. I will remove dangerous animals from the land, and no sword will pass through your land.

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

8 Five of you will pursue 100, and 100 of you will pursue 10,000; your enemies will fall before you by the sword.

9 "I will turn to you, make you fruitful and multiply you, and confirm My covenant with you.

10 You will eat the old grain of the previous year and will clear out the old to make room for the new.

11 I will place My residence among you, and I will not reject you.

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

13 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, so that you would no longer be their slaves. I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to live in freedom.

14 "But if you do not obey Me and observe all these commands-

15 if you reject My statutes and despise My ordinances, and do not observe all My commands-and break My covenant,

16 then I will do this to you: I will bring terror on you-wasting disease and fever that will cause your eyes to fail and your life to ebb away. You will sow your seed in vain because your enemies will eat it.

17 I will turn against you, so that you will be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee even though no one is pursuing you.

18 "But if after these things you will not obey Me, I will proceed to discipline you seven times for your sins.

19 I will break down your strong pride. I will make your sky like iron and your land like bronze,

20 and your strength will be used up for nothing. Your land will not yield its produce, and the trees of the land will not bear their fruit.

21 "If you act with hostility toward Me and are unwilling to obey Me, I will multiply your plagues seven times for your sins.

22 I will send wild animals against you that will deprive you of your children, ravage your livestock, and reduce your numbers until your roads are deserted.

23 "If in spite of these things you do not accept My discipline, but act with hostility toward Me,

24 then I will act with hostility toward you; I also will strike you seven times for your sins.

25 I will bring a sword against you to execute the vengeance of the covenant. Though you withdraw into your cities, I will send a pestilence among you, and you will be delivered into enemy hands.

26 When I cut off your supply of bread, 10 women will bake your bread in a single oven and ration out your bread by weight, so that you will eat but not be satisfied.

27 "And if in spite of this you do not obey Me but act with hostility toward Me,

28 I will act with furious hostility toward you; I will also discipline you seven times for your sins.

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

30 I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars, and heap your dead bodies on the lifeless bodies of your idols; I will reject you.

31 I will reduce your cities to ruins and devastate your sanctuaries. I will not smell the pleasing aroma of your [sacrifices].

32 I also will devastate the land, so that your enemies who come to live there will be appalled by it.

33 But I will scatter you among the nations, and I will draw a sword [to chase] after you. So your land will become desolate, and your cities will become ruins.

34 "Then the land will make up for its Sabbath [years] during the time it lies desolate, while you are in the land of your enemies. At that time the land will rest and make up for its Sabbaths.

35 As long as it lies desolate, it will have the rest it did not have during your Sabbaths when you lived there.

36 "I will put anxiety in the hearts of those of you who survive in the lands of their enemies. The sound of a wind-driven leaf will put them to flight, and they will flee as one flees from a sword, and fall though no one is pursuing [them].

37 They will stumble over one another as if [fleeing] from a sword though no one is pursuing [them]. You will not be able to stand against your enemies.

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

39 Those who survive in the lands of your enemies will waste away because of their sin; they will also waste away because of their fathers' sins along with theirs.

40 "But if they will confess their sin and the sin of their fathers-their unfaithfulness that they practiced against Me, and how they acted with hostility toward Me,

41 and I acted with hostility toward them and brought them into the land of their enemies-and if their uncircumcised hearts will be humbled, and if they will pay the penalty for their sin,

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

43 For the land abandoned by them will make up for its Sabbaths by lying desolate without the people, while they pay the penalty for their sin, because they rejected My ordinances and abhorred My statutes.

44 Yet in spite of this, while they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject or abhor them so as to destroy them and break My covenant with them, since I am the Lord their God.

45 For their sake I will remember the covenant with their fathers, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations to be their God; I am the Lord."

46 These are the statutes, ordinances, and laws the Lord established between Himself and the Israelites through Moses on Mount Sinai.

Leviticus 27

1 The Lord spoke to Moses:

2 "Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When someone makes a special vow to the Lord that involves the valuation of people,

3 if the valuation concerns a male from 20 to 60 years old, your valuation is 50 silver shekels [measured] by the standard sanctuary shekel.

4 If the person is a female, your valuation is 30 shekels.

5 If the person is from five to 20 years old, your valuation for a male is 20 shekels and for a female 10 shekels.

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

7 If the person is 60 years or more, your valuation is 15 shekels for a male and 10 shekels for a female.

8 But if one is too poor to pay the valuation, he must present the person before the priest and the priest will set a value for him. The priest will set a value for him according to what the one making the vow can afford.

9 "If the vow involves one of the animals that may be brought as an offering to the Lord, any of these he gives to the Lord will be holy.

10 He may not replace it or make a substitution for it, either good for bad, or bad for good. But if he does substitute one animal for another, both that animal and its substitute will be holy.

11 "If the vow involves any of the unclean animals that may not be brought as an offering to the Lord, the animal must be presented before the priest.

12 The priest will set its value, whether high or low; the price will be set as the priest makes the valuation for you.

13 If the one who brought it decides to redeem it, he must add a fifth to the valuation.

14 "When a man consecrates his house as holy to the Lord, the priest will assess its value, whether high or low. The price will stand just as the priest assesses it.

15 But if the one who consecrated his house redeems [it], he must add a fifth to the valuation price, and it will be his.

16 "If a man consecrates to the Lord any part of a field that he possesses, your valuation will be proportional to the seed needed to sow it, at the rate of 50 silver shekels for [every] five bushels of barley seed.

17 If he consecrates his field during the Year of Jubilee, the price will stand according to your valuation.

18 But if he consecrates his field after the Jubilee, the priest will calculate the price for him in proportion to the years left until the [next] Year of Jubilee, so that your valuation will be reduced.

19 If the one who consecrated the field decides to redeem it, he must add a fifth to the valuation price, and the field will transfer back to him.

20 But if he does not redeem the field or if he has sold it to another man, it is no longer redeemable.

21 When the field is released in the Jubilee, it will be holy to the Lord like a field permanently set apart; it becomes the priest's property.

22 "If a person consecrates to the Lord a field he has purchased that is not part of his inherited landholding,

23 then the priest will calculate for him the amount of the valuation up to the Year of Jubilee, and the person will pay the valuation on that day as a holy offering to the Lord.

24 In the Year of Jubilee the field will return to the one he bought it from, the original owner.

25 All your valuations will be [measured] by the standard sanctuary shekel, 20 gerahs to the shekel.

26 "But no one can consecrate a firstborn of the livestock, whether an animal from the herd or flock, to the Lord, because a firstborn [already] belongs to the Lord.

27 If it is one of the unclean livestock, it must be ransomed according to your valuation by adding a fifth of its value to it. If it is not redeemed, it can be sold according to your valuation.

28 "Nothing that a man permanently sets apart to the Lord from all he owns, whether a person, an animal, or his inherited landholding, can be sold or redeemed; everything set apart is especially holy to the Lord.

29 No person who has been set apart [for destruction] is to be ransomed; he must be put to death.

30 "Every tenth of the land's produce, grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord; it is holy to the Lord.

31 If a man decides to redeem any part of this tenth, he must add one-fifth to its value.

32 Every tenth animal from the herd or flock, which passes under the [shepherd's] rod, will be holy to the Lord.

33 He is not to inspect whether it is good or bad, and he is not to make a substitution for it. But if he does make a substitution, both the animal and its substitute will be holy; they cannot be redeemed."

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

Ecclesiastes 1:12-18

12 I, the Teacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem.

13 I applied my mind to seek and explore through wisdom all that is done under heaven. God has given people this miserable task to keep them occupied.

14 I have seen all the things that are done under the sun and have found everything to be futile, a pursuit of the wind.

15 What is crooked cannot be straightened; what is lacking cannot be counted.

16 I said to myself, "Look, I have amassed wisdom far beyond all those who were over Jerusalem before me, and my mind has thoroughly grasped wisdom and knowledge."

17 I applied my mind to know wisdom and knowledge, madness and folly; I learned that this too is a pursuit of the wind.

18 For with much wisdom is much sorrow; as knowledge increases, grief increases.

Ecclesiastes 2

1 I said to myself, "Go ahead, I will test you with pleasure and enjoy what is good." But it turned out to be futile.

2 I said about laughter, "It is madness," and about pleasure, "What does this accomplish?"

3 I explored with my mind how to let my body enjoy life with wine and how to grasp folly-my mind still guiding me with wisdom-until I could see what is good for people to do under heaven during the few days of their lives.

4 I increased my achievements. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself.

5 I made gardens and parks for myself and planted every kind of fruit tree in them.

6 I constructed reservoirs of water for myself from which to irrigate a grove of flourishing trees.

7 I acquired male and female servants and had slaves who were born in my house. I also owned many herds of cattle and flocks, more than all who were before me in Jerusalem.

8 I also amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I gathered male and female singers for myself, and many concubines, the delights of men.

9 Thus, I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem; my wisdom also remained with me.

10 All that my eyes desired, I did not deny them. I did not refuse myself any pleasure, for I took pleasure in all my struggles. This was my reward for all my struggles.

11 When I considered all that I had accomplished and what I had labored to achieve, I found everything to be futile and a pursuit of the wind. There was nothing to be gained under the sun.

12 Then I turned to consider wisdom, madness, and folly, for what will the man be like who comes after the king? He will do what has already been done.

13 And I realized that there is an advantage to wisdom over folly, like the advantage of light over darkness.

14 The wise man has eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. Yet I also knew that one fate comes to them both.

15 So I said to myself, "What happens to the fool will also happen to me. Why then have I been overly wise?" And I said to myself that this is also futile.

16 For, just like the fool, there is no lasting remembrance of the wise man, since in the days to come both will be forgotten. How is it that the wise man dies just like the fool?

17 Therefore, I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me. For everything is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

18 I hated all my work at which I labored under the sun because I must leave it to the man who comes after me.

19 And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will take over all my work that I labored at skillfully under the sun. This too is futile.

20 So I began to give myself over to despair concerning all my work I had labored at under the sun.

21 For there is a man whose work was done with wisdom, knowledge, and skill, but he must give his portion to a man who has not worked for it. This too is futile and a great wrong.

22 For what does a man get with all his work and all his efforts that he labors with under the sun?

23 For all his days are filled with grief, and his occupation is sorrowful; even at night, his mind does not rest. This too is futile.

24 There is nothing better for man than to eat, drink, and to enjoyhis work. I have seen that even this is from God's hand.

25 For who can eat and who can enjoy life apart from Him?

26 For to the man who is pleasing in His sight, He gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy, but to the sinner He gives the task of gathering and accumulating in order to give to the one who is pleasing in God's sight. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.