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

1 On the first day of the seventh month you are to gather for worship, and no work is to be done. On that day trumpets are to be blown.

2 Present a burnt offering to the Lord, an odor pleasing to him: one young bull, one ram, and seven one-year-old male lambs, all without any defects.

3 Offer the proper grain offering of flour mixed with olive oil: 6 pounds of flour with the bull, 4 pounds with the ram,

4 and 2 pounds with each lamb.

5 Also offer one male goat as a sin offering, and in this way perform the ritual of purification for the people.

6 Offer these in addition to the regular burnt offering for the first day of the month with its grain offering, and the daily burnt offering with its grain offering and wine offering. These food offerings are an odor pleasing to the Lord.

7 Gather for worship on the tenth day of the seventh month; eat no food and do no work.

8 Offer a burnt offering to the Lord, an odor pleasing to him: one young bull, one ram, and seven one-year-old male lambs, all without any defects.

9 Offer the proper grain offering of flour mixed with olive oil: 6 pounds of flour with the bull, 4 pounds with the ram,

10 and 2 pounds with each lamb.

11 Also offer one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the goat offered in the ritual of purification for the people, and the daily burnt offering with its grain offering and wine offering.

12 Gather for worship on the fifteenth day of the seventh month. Celebrate this festival in honor of the Lord for seven days and do no work.

13 On this first day offer a food offering to the Lord, an odor pleasing to him: thirteen young bulls, two rams, and fourteen one-year-old male lambs, all without any defects.

14 Offer the proper grain offering of flour mixed with olive oil: 6 pounds of flour with each bull, 4 pounds with each ram,

15 and 2 pounds with each lamb, with the required wine offerings.

16 Also offer one male goat as a sin offering. Offer these in addition to the daily burnt offering with its grain offering and wine offering.

17 On the second day offer twelve young bulls, two rams, and fourteen one-year-old male lambs, all without any defects.

18 Offer with them all the other offerings required for the first day.

20 On the third day offer eleven young bulls, two rams, and fourteen one-year-old male lambs, all without any defects.

21 Offer with them all the other offerings required for the first day.

23 On the fourth day offer ten young bulls, two rams, and fourteen one-year-old male lambs, all without any defects.

24 Offer with them all the other offerings required for the first day.

26 On the fifth day offer nine young bulls, two rams, and fourteen one-year-old male lambs, all without any defects.

27 Offer with them all the other offerings required for the first day.

29 On the sixth day offer eight young bulls, two rams, and fourteen one-year-old male lambs, all without any defects.

30 Offer with them all the other offerings required for the first day.

32 On the seventh day offer seven young bulls, two rams, and fourteen one-year-old male lambs, all without any defects.

33 Offer with them all the other offerings required for the first day.

35 On the eighth day gather for worship and do no work.

36 Offer a burnt offering as a food offering to the Lord, an odor pleasing to him: one young bull, one ram, and seven one-year-old male lambs, all without any defects.

37 Offer with them all the other offerings required for the first day.

39 These are the regulations concerning the burnt offerings, grain offerings, wine offerings, and fellowship offerings that you are to make to the Lord at your appointed festivals. These are in addition to the offerings you give in fulfillment of a vow or as freewill offerings.

40 So Moses told the people of Israel everything that the Lord had commanded him.

1 Moses gave the following instructions to the leaders of the tribes of Israel.

2 When a man makes a vow to give something to the Lord or takes an oath to abstain from something, he must not break his promise, but must do everything that he said he would.

3 When a young woman still living in her father's house makes a vow to give something to the Lord or promises to abstain from something,

4 she must do everything that she vowed or promised unless her father raises an objection when he hears about it.

5 But if her father forbids her to fulfill the vow when he hears about it, she is not required to keep it. The Lord will forgive her, because her father refused to let her keep it.

6 If an unmarried woman makes a vow, whether deliberately or carelessly, or promises to abstain from something, and then marries,

7 she must do everything that she vowed or promised unless her husband raises an objection when he hears about it.

8 But if her husband forbids her to fulfill the vow when he hears about it, she is not required to keep it. The Lord will forgive her.

9 A widow or a divorced woman must keep every vow she makes and every promise to abstain from something.

10 If a married woman makes a vow or promises to abstain from something,

11 she must do everything that she vowed or promised unless her husband raises an objection when he hears about it.

12 But if her husband forbids her to fulfill the vow when he hears about it, she is not required to keep it. The Lord will forgive her, because her husband prevented her from keeping her vow.

13 Her husband has the right to affirm or to annul any vow or promise that she has made.

14 But if, by the day after he hears of the vow, he has raised no objection, she must do everything that she has vowed or promised. He has affirmed the vow by not objecting on the day he heard of it.

15 But if he later annuls the vow, he must suffer the consequences for the failure to fulfill the vow.

16 These are the rules that the Lord gave Moses concerning vows made by an unmarried woman living in her father's house or by a married woman.

1 The Lord said to Moses,

2 "Punish the Midianites for what they did to the people of Israel. After you have done that, you will die."

3 So Moses said to the people, "Get ready for war, so that you can attack Midian and punish them for what they did to the Lord.

4 From each tribe of Israel send a thousand men to war."

5 So a thousand men were chosen from each tribe, a total of twelve thousand men ready for battle.

6 Moses sent them to war under the command of Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest, who took charge of the sacred objects and the trumpets for giving signals.

7 They attacked Midian, as the Lord had commanded Moses, and killed all the men,

8 including the five kings of Midian: Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba. They also killed Balaam son of Beor.

9 The people of Israel captured the Midianite women and children, took their cattle and their flocks, plundered all their wealth,

10 and burned all their cities and camps.

11 They took all the loot that they had captured, including the prisoners and the animals,

12 and brought them to Moses and Eleazar and to the community of the people of Israel, who were at the camp on the plains of Moab across the Jordan from Jericho.

13 Moses, Eleazar, and all the other leaders of the community went out of the camp to meet the army.

14 Moses became angry with the officers, the commanders of battalions and companies, who had returned from the war.

15 He asked them, "Why have you kept all the women alive?

16 Remember that it was the women who followed Balaam's instructions and at Peor led the people to be unfaithful to the Lord. That was what brought the epidemic on the Lord's people.

17 So now kill every boy and kill every woman who has had sexual intercourse,

18 but keep alive for yourselves all the girls and all the women who are virgins.

19 Now all of you who have killed anyone or have touched a corpse must stay outside the camp for seven days. On the third day and on the seventh day purify yourselves and the women you have captured.

20 You must also purify every piece of clothing and everything made of leather, goats' hair, or wood."

21 Eleazar the priest said to the men who had returned from battle, "These are the regulations that the Lord has given to Moses.

22 Everything that will not burn, such as gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin, or lead, is to be purified by passing it through fire. Everything else is to be purified by the water for purification.

24 On the seventh day you must wash your clothes; then you will be ritually clean and will be permitted to enter the camp."

25 The Lord said to Moses,

26 "You and Eleazar, together with the other leaders of the community, are to count everything that has been captured, including the prisoners and the animals.

27 Divide what was taken into two equal parts, one part for the soldiers and the other part for the rest of the community.

28 From the part that belongs to the soldiers, withhold as a tax for the Lord one out of every five hundred prisoners and the same proportion of the cattle, donkeys, sheep, and goats.

29 Give them to Eleazar the priest as a special contribution to the Lord.

30 From the part given to the rest of the people, take one out of every fifty prisoners and the same proportion of the cattle, donkeys, sheep, and goats. Give them to the Levites who are in charge of the Lord's Tent."

31 Moses and Eleazar did what the Lord commanded.

32 The following is a list of what was captured by the soldiers, in addition to what they kept for themselves: 675,000 sheep and goats, 72,000 cattle, 61,000 donkeys, and 32,000 virgins.

36 The half share of the soldiers was 337,500 sheep and goats, of which 675 were the tax for the Lord; 36,000 cattle for the soldiers, of which 72 were the tax for the Lord; 30,500 donkeys for the soldiers, of which 61 were the tax for the Lord; and 16,000 virgins for the soldiers, of which 32 were the tax for the Lord.

41 So Moses gave Eleazar the tax as a special contribution to the Lord, as the Lord had commanded.

42 The share of the community was the same as that for the soldiers: 337,500 sheep and goats, 36,000 cattle, 30,500 donkeys, and 16,000 virgins.

47 From this share Moses took one out of every fifty prisoners and animals, and as the Lord had commanded, gave them to the Levites who were in charge of the Lord's Tent.

48 Then the officers who had commanded the army went to Moses

49 and reported, "Sir, we have counted the soldiers under our command and not one of them is missing.

50 So we are bringing the gold ornaments, armlets, bracelets, rings, earrings, and necklaces that each of us has taken. We offer them to the Lord as a payment for our lives, so that he will protect us."

51 Moses and Eleazar received the gold, all of which was in the form of ornaments.

52 The total contribution of the officers weighed over four hundred pounds.

53 Those who were not officers kept the loot they had taken.

54 So Moses and Eleazar took the gold to the Tent, so that the Lord would protect the people of Israel.

1 And he went on to say, "I tell you, there are some here who will not die until they have seen the Kingdom of God come with power."

2 Six days later Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John, and led them up a high mountain, where they were alone. As they looked on, a change came over Jesus,

3 and his clothes became shining white - whiter than anyone in the world could wash them.

4 Then the three disciples saw Elijah and Moses talking with Jesus.

5 Peter spoke up and said to Jesus, "Teacher, how good it is that we are here! We will make three tents, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."

6 He and the others were so frightened that he did not know what to say.

7 Then a cloud appeared and covered them with its shadow, and a voice came from the cloud, "This is my own dear Son - listen to him!"

8 They took a quick look around but did not see anyone else; only Jesus was with them.

9 As they came down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, "Don't tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has risen from death."

10 They obeyed his order, but among themselves they started discussing the matter, "What does this "rising from death' mean?"

11 And they asked Jesus, "Why do the teachers of the Law say that Elijah has to come first?"

12 His answer was, "Elijah is indeed coming first in order to get everything ready. Yet why do the Scriptures say that the Son of Man will suffer much and be rejected?

13 I tell you, however, that Elijah has already come and that people treated him just as they pleased, as the Scriptures say about him."

14 When they joined the rest of the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and some teachers of the Law arguing with them.

15 When the people saw Jesus, they were greatly surprised, and ran to him and greeted him.

16 Jesus asked his disciples, "What are you arguing with them about?"

17 A man in the crowd answered, "Teacher, I brought my son to you, because he has an evil spirit in him and cannot talk.

18 Whenever the spirit attacks him, it throws him to the ground, and he foams at the mouth, grits his teeth, and becomes stiff all over. I asked your disciples to drive the spirit out, but they could not."

19 Jesus said to them, "How unbelieving you people are! How long must I stay with you? How long do I have to put up with you? Bring the boy to me!"

20 They brought him to Jesus. As soon as the spirit saw Jesus, it threw the boy into a fit, so that he fell on the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.

21 "How long has he been like this?" Jesus asked the father. "Ever since he was a child," he replied.

22 "Many times the evil spirit has tried to kill him by throwing him in the fire and into water. Have pity on us and help us, if you possibly can!"

23 "Yes," said Jesus, "if you yourself can! Everything is possible for the person who has faith."

24 The father at once cried out, "I do have faith, but not enough. Help me have more!"

25 Jesus noticed that the crowd was closing in on them, so he gave a command to the evil spirit. "Deaf and dumb spirit," he said, "I order you to come out of the boy and never go into him again!"

26 The spirit screamed, threw the boy into a bad fit, and came out. The boy looked like a corpse, and everyone said, "He is dead!"

27 But Jesus took the boy by the hand and helped him rise, and he stood up.

28 After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, "Why couldn't we drive the spirit out?"

29 "Only prayer can drive this kind out," answered Jesus; "nothing else can."