Numbers 29; Numbers 30; Numbers 31; Mark 9:1-29

Numbers 29

1 "You are to hold a sacred assembly in the seventh month, on the first [day] of the month, and you are not to do any daily work. This will be a day of jubilation for you.

2 Offer a burnt offering as a pleasing aroma to the Lord: one young bull, one ram, seven male lambs a year old-[all] unblemished-

3 with their grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil, six quarts with the bull, four quarts with the ram,

4 and two quarts with each of the seven male lambs.

5 Also [offer] one male goat as a sin offering to make atonement for yourselves.

6 These are in addition to the monthly and regular burnt offerings with their grain offerings and drink offerings. They are a pleasing aroma, a fire offering to the Lord.

7 "You are to hold a sacred assembly on the tenth [day] of this seventh month and practice self-denial; you must not do any work.

8 Present a burnt offering to the Lord, a pleasing aroma: one young bull, one ram, and seven male lambs a year old. [All] your animals are to be unblemished.

9 Their grain offering is to be of fine flour mixed with oil, six quarts with the bull, four quarts with the ram,

10 and two quarts with each of the seven lambs.

11 [Offer] one male goat for a sin offering. The regular burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offerings are in addition to the sin offering of atonement.

12 "You are to hold a sacred assembly on the fifteenth day of the seventh month; you must not do any daily work. You are to celebrate a seven-day festival for the Lord.

13 Present a burnt offering, a fire offering as a pleasing aroma to the Lord: 13 young bulls, two rams, and 14 male lambs a year old. They are to be unblemished.

14 Their grain offering is to be of fine flour mixed with oil, six quarts with each of the 13 bulls, four quarts with each of the two rams,

15 and two quarts with each of the 14 lambs.

16 Also [offer] one male goat as a sin offering. These are in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain and drink offerings.

17 "On the second day [present] 12 young bulls, two rams, and 14 male lambs a year old-[all] unblemished-

18 with their grain and drink offerings for the bulls, rams, and lambs, in proportion to their number.

19 Also [offer] one male goat as a sin offering. These are in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain and drink offerings.

20 "On the third day [present] 11 bulls, two rams, 14 male lambs a year old-[all] unblemished-

21 with their grain and drink offerings for the bulls, rams, and lambs, in proportion to their number.

22 Also [offer] one male goat as a sin offering. These are in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain and drink offerings.

23 "On the fourth day [present] 10 bulls, two rams, 14 male lambs a year old-[all] unblemished-

24 with their grain and drink offerings for the bulls, rams, and lambs, in proportion to their number.

25 Also [offer] one male goat as a sin offering. These are in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain and drink offerings.

26 "On the fifth day [present] nine bulls, two rams, 14 male lambs a year old-[all] unblemished-

27 with their grain and drink offerings for the bulls, rams, and lambs, in proportion to their number.

28 Also [offer] one male goat as a sin offering. These are in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain and drink offerings.

29 "On the sixth day [present] eight bulls, two rams, 14 male lambs a year old-[all] unblemished-

30 with their grain and drink offerings for the bulls, rams, and lambs, in proportion to their number.

31 Also [offer] one male goat as a sin offering. These are in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain and drink offerings.

32 "On the seventh day [present] seven bulls, two rams, and 14 male lambs a year old-[all] unblemished-

33 with their grain and drink offerings for the bulls, rams, and lambs, in proportion to their number.

34 Also [offer] one male goat as a sin offering. These are in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain and drink offerings.

35 "On the eighth day you are to hold a solemn assembly; you are not to do any daily work.

36 Present a burnt offering, a fire offering as a pleasing aroma to the Lord: one bull, one ram, seven male lambs a year old-[all] unblemished-

37 with their grain and drink offerings for the bulls, rams, and lambs, in proportion to their number.

38 Also [offer] one male goat as a sin offering. These are in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain and drink offerings.

39 "You must offer these to the Lord at your appointed times in addition to your vow and freewill offerings, whether burnt, grain, drink, or fellowship offerings."

40 So Moses told the Israelites everything the Lord had commanded him.

Numbers 30

1 Moses told the leaders of the Israelite tribes, "This is what the Lord has commanded:

2 When a man makes a vow to the Lord or swears an oath to put himself under an obligation, he must not break his word; he must do whatever he has promised.

3 "When a woman in her father's house during her youth makes a vow to the Lord or puts [herself] under an obligation,

4 and her father hears about her vow or the obligation she put herself under, and he says nothing to her, all her vows and every obligation she put herself under are binding.

5 But if her father prohibits her on the day he hears [about it], none of her vows and none of the obligations she put herself under are binding. The Lord will absolve her because her father has prohibited her.

6 "If a woman marries while her vows or the rash commitment she herself made are binding,

7 and her husband hears [about it] and says nothing to her when he finds out, her vows are binding, and the obligations she put herself under are binding.

8 But if her husband prohibits her when he hears [about it], he will cancel her vow that is binding or the rash commitment she herself made, and the Lord will forgive her.

9 "Every vow a widow or divorcée puts herself under is binding on her.

10 "If a woman in her husband's house has made a vow or put herself under an obligation with an oath,

11 and her husband hears [about it], says nothing to her, and does not prohibit her, all her vows are binding, and every obligation she put herself under is binding.

12 But if her husband cancels them on the day he hears [about it], nothing that came from her lips, whether her vows or her obligation, is binding. Her husband has canceled them, and the Lord will absolve her.

13 Her husband may confirm or cancel any vow or any sworn obligation to deny herself.

14 If her husband says nothing at all to her from day to day, he confirms all her vows and obligations, which are binding. He has confirmed them because he said nothing to her when he heard [about them].

15 But if he cancels them after he hears [about them], he will be responsible for her commitment."

16 These are the statutes that the Lord commanded Moses concerning [the relationship] between a man and his wife, or between a father and his daughter in his house during her youth.

Numbers 31

1 The Lord spoke to Moses,

2 "Execute vengeance for the Israelites against the Midianites. After that, you will be gathered to your people."

3 So Moses spoke to the people, "Equip some of your men for war. They will go against Midian to inflict the Lord's vengeance on them.

4 Send 1,000 men to war from each Israelite tribe."

5 So 1,000 were recruited from each Israelite tribe out of the thousands in Israel-12,000 equipped for war.

6 Moses sent 1,000 from each tribe to war. They went with Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest, in whose care were the holy objects and signal trumpets.

7 They waged war against Midian, as the Lord had commanded Moses, and killed every male.

8 Along with the others slain by them, they killed the Midianite kings-Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword.

9 The Israelites took the Midianite women and their children captive, and they plundered all their cattle, flocks, and property.

10 Then they burned all the cities where the Midianites lived, as well as all their encampments,

11 and took away all the spoils of war and the captives, both human and animal.

12 They brought the prisoners, animals, and spoils of war to Moses, Eleazar the priest, and the Israelite community at the camp on the plains of Moab by the Jordan [across from] Jericho.

13 Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the community went to meet them outside the camp.

14 But Moses became furious with the officers, the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, who were returning from the military campaign.

15 "Have you let every female live?" he asked them.

16 "Yet they are the ones who, at Balaam's advice, incited the Israelites to unfaithfulness against the Lord in the Peor incident, so that the plague came against the Lord's community.

17 So now, kill all the male children and kill every woman who has had sexual relations with a man,

18 but keep alive for yourselves all the young females who have not had sexual relations.

19 "You are to remain outside the camp for seven days. All of you and your prisoners who have killed a person or touched the dead are to purify yourselves on the third day and the seventh day.

20 Also purify everything: garments, leather goods, things made of goat hair, and every article of wood."

21 Then Eleazar the priest said to the soldiers who had gone to battle, "This is the legal statute the Lord commanded Moses:

22 Only the gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin, and lead-

23 everything that can withstand fire-put through fire, and it will be clean. It must still be purified with the purification water. Anything that cannot withstand fire, put through the water.

24 On the seventh day wash your clothes, and you will be clean. After that you may enter the camp."

25 The Lord told Moses,

26 "You, Eleazar the priest, and the family leaders of the community are to take a count of what was captured, human and animal.

27 Then divide the captives between the troops who went out to war and the entire community.

28 Set aside a tribute for the Lord from what belongs to the fighting men who went out to war: one out of [every] 500 humans, cattle, donkeys, sheep, and goats.

29 Take [the tribute] from their half and give [it] to Eleazar the priest as a contribution to the Lord.

30 From the Israelites' half, take one out of every 50 from the people, cattle, donkeys, sheep, and goats, all the livestock, and give them to the Levites who perform the duties of the Lord's tabernacle."

31 So Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord commanded Moses.

32 The captives remaining from the plunder the army had taken totaled: 675,000 sheep and goats,

33 72,000 cattle,

34 61,000 donkeys,

35 and 32,000 people, all the females who had not had sexual relations with a man.

36 The half portion for those who went out to war numbered: 337,500 sheep and goats,

37 and the tribute to the Lord was 675 from the sheep and goats;

38 from the 36,000 cattle, the tribute to the Lord was 72;

39 from the 30,500 donkeys, the tribute to the Lord was 61;

40 and from the 16,000 people, the tribute to the Lord was 32 people.

41 Moses gave the tribute to Eleazar the priest as a contribution for the Lord, as the Lord had commanded Moses.

42 From the Israelites' half, which Moses separated from the men who fought,

43 the community's half was: 337,500 sheep and goats,

44 36,000 cattle,

45 30,500 donkeys,

46 and 16,000 people.

47 Moses took one out of [every] 50, selected from the people and the livestock from the Israelites' half. He gave them to the Levites who perform the duties of the Lord's tabernacle, as the Lord had commanded him.

48 The officers who were over the thousands of the army, the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, approached Moses

49 and told him, "Your servants have taken a census of the fighting men under our command, and not one of us is missing.

50 So we have presented to the Lord an offering of the gold articles each man found-armlets, bracelets, rings, earrings, and necklaces-to make atonement for ourselves before the Lord."

51 Moses and Eleazar the priest received from them all the articles made out of gold.

52 All the gold of the contribution they offered to the Lord, from the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, was 420 pounds.

53 Each of the soldiers had taken plunder for himself.

54 Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from the commanders of thousands and of hundreds and brought it into the tent of meeting as a memorial for the Israelites before the Lord.

Mark 9:1-29

1 Then He said to them, "I assure you: There are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God come in power."

2 After six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up on a high mountain by themselves to be alone. He was transformed in front of them,

3 and His clothes became dazzling-extremely white as no launderer on earth could whiten them.

4 Elijah appeared to them with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus.

5 Then Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here! Let us make three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah"-

6 because he did not know what he should say, since they were terrified.

7 A cloud appeared, overshadowing them, and a voice came from the cloud: This is My beloved Son; listen to Him!

8 Then suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus alone.

9 As they were coming down from the mountain, He ordered them to tell no one what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

10 They kept this word to themselves, discussing what "rising from the dead" meant.

11 Then they began to question Him, "Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?"

12 "Elijah does come first and restores everything," He replied. "How then is it written about the Son of Man that He must suffer many things and be treated with contempt?

13 But I tell you that Elijah really has come, and they did to him whatever they wanted, just as it is written about him."

14 When they came to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and scribes disputing with them.

15 All of a sudden, when the whole crowd saw Him, they were amazed and ran to greet Him.

16 Then He asked them, "What are you arguing with them about?"

17 Out of the crowd, one man answered Him, "Teacher, I brought my son to You. He has a spirit that makes him unable to speak.

18 Wherever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I asked Your disciples to drive it out, but they couldn't."

19 He replied to them, "You unbelieving generation! How long will I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him to Me."

20 So they brought him to Him. When the spirit saw Him, it immediately convulsed the boy. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.

21 "How long has this been happening to him?" Jesus asked his father. "From childhood," he said.

22 "And many times it has thrown him into fire or water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us."

23 Then Jesus said to him, " 'If You can?' Everything is possible to the one who believes."

24 Immediately the father of the boy cried out, "I do believe! Help my unbelief."

25 When Jesus saw that a crowd was rapidly coming together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, "You mute and deaf spirit, I command you: come out of him and never enter him again!"

26 Then it came out, shrieking and convulsing him violently. The boy became like a corpse, so that many said, "He's dead."

27 But Jesus, taking him by the hand, raised him, and he stood up.

28 After He went into a house, His disciples asked Him privately, "Why couldn't we drive it out?"

29 And He told them, "This kind can come out by nothing but prayer [and fasting]."