Daily Bible CEV March 04 Scroll

Jesus Chooses His Twelve Apostles
(Mark 3.13-19; Luke 6.12-16)

Matthew 10 Jesus called together his twelve disciples. He gave them the power to force out evil spirits and to heal every kind of disease and sickness. ²The first of the twelve apostles was Simon, better known as Peter. His brother Andrew was an apostle, and so were James and John, the two sons of Zebedee. ³Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew the tax collector, James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus were also apostles. ⁴The others were Simon, known as the Eager One, and Judas Iscariot, who later betrayed Jesus.

Instructions for the Twelve Apostles
(Mark 6.7-13; Luke 9.1-6)

⁵Jesus sent out the twelve apostles with these instructions:

Stay away from the Gentiles and don't go to any Samaritan town. ⁶Go only to the people of Israel, because they are like a flock of lost sheep. ⁷As you go, announce that the kingdom of heaven will soon be here.

8Heal the sick, raise the dead to life, heal people who have leprosy, and force out demons. You received without paying, now give without being paid. ⁹Don't take along any gold, silver, or copper coins. ¹⁰And don't carry a traveling bag or an extra shirt or sandals or a walking stick.

Workers deserve their food. ¹¹So when you go to a town or a village, find someone worthy enough to have you as their guest and stay with them until you leave. ¹²When you go to a home, give it your blessing of peace. ¹³If the home is deserving, let your blessing remain with them. But if the home isn't deserving, take back your blessing of peace. ¹⁴If someone won't welcome you or listen to your message, leave their home or town. And shake the dust from your feet at them. ¹⁵I promise you that the day of judgment will be easier for the towns of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.

Warning about Trouble
(Mark 13.9-13; Luke 21.12-17)

¹⁶I am sending you like lambs into a pack of wolves. So be as wise as snakes and as innocent as doves. ¹⁷Watch out for people who will take you to court and have you beaten in their meeting places. ¹⁸Because of me, you will be dragged before rulers and kings to tell them and the Gentiles about your faith. ¹⁹But when someone arrests you, don't worry about what you will say or how you will say it. At that time you will be given the words to say. ²⁰But you will not really be the one speaking. The Spirit from your Father will tell you what to say.

²¹Brothers and sisters will betray one another and have each other put to death. Parents will betray their own children, and children will turn against their parents and have them killed. ²²Everyone will hate you because of me. But if you remain faithful until the end, you will be saved. ²³When people mistreat you in one town, hurry to another one. I promise you that before you have gone to all the towns of Israel, the Son of Man will come.

²⁴Disciples are not better than their teacher, and slaves are not better than their master. ²⁵It is enough for disciples to be like their teacher and for slaves to be like their master. If people call the head of the family Satan, what will they say about the rest of the family?

Sacrifices To Make Things Right
(Leviticus 5.14-19)

The LORD said:
Leviticus 7 The sacrifice to make things right is very sacred. ²The animal must be killed in the same place where the sacrifice to please me is killed, and the animal's blood must be splattered against the four sides of the bronze altar. ³Offer all of the animal's fat, including the fat on its tail and on its insides, ⁴as well as the lower part of the liver and the two kidneys with their fat. ⁵One of the priests will lay these pieces on the altar and send them up in smoke to me. ⁶This sacrifice for making things right is very holy. Only the priests may eat it, and they must eat it in a holy place.

⁷The ceremony for this sacrifice and the one for sin are just alike, and the meat may be eaten only by the priest who performs this ceremony of forgiveness.

⁸In fact, the priest who offers a sacrifice to please me may keep the skin of the animal, ⁹just as he may eat the bread from a sacrifice to give thanks to me. ¹⁰All other grain sacrifices--with or without olive oil in them--are to be divided equally among the priests of Aaron's family.

Sacrifices To Ask the LORD's Blessing

The LORD said:

¹¹Here are the instructions for offering a sacrifice to ask my blessing: ¹²If you offer it to give thanks, you must offer some bread together with it. Use the finest flour to make three kinds of bread without yeast--two in the form of loaves mixed with olive oil and one in the form of thin wafers brushed with oil. ¹³You must also make some bread with yeast. ¹⁴Give me one loaf or wafer from each of these four kinds of bread, after which they will belong to the priest who splattered the blood against the bronze altar.

¹⁵When you offer an animal to ask a blessing from me or to thank me, the meat belongs to you, but it must be eaten the same day. ¹⁶It is different with the sacrifices you offer when you make me a promise or voluntarily give me something. The meat from those sacrifices may be kept and eaten the next day, ^17-18but any that is left must be destroyed. If you eat any after the second day, your sacrifice will be useless and unacceptable, and you will be both disgusting and guilty.

¹⁹Don't eat any of the meat that touches something unclean. Instead, burn it. The rest of the meat may be eaten by anyone who is clean and acceptable to me. ^20-21But don't eat any of this meat if you have become unclean by touching something unclean from a human or an animal or from any other creature. If you do, you will no longer belong to the community of Israel.

²²The LORD told Moses ²³to say to the people:

Don't eat the fat of cattle, sheep, or goats. ²⁴If one of your animals dies or is killed by some wild animal, you may do anything with its fat except eat it. ²⁵If you eat the fat of an animal that can be used as a sacrifice to me, you will no longer belong to the community of Israel. ²⁶And no matter where you live, you must not eat the blood of any bird or animal, ²⁷or you will no longer belong to the community of Israel.

²⁸The LORD also told Moses ^29-30to say to the people of Israel:

If you want to offer a sacrifice to ask my blessing, you must bring the part to be burned and lay it on the bronze altar. But you must first lift up the choice ribs with their fat to show that the offering is dedicated to me. ³¹A priest from Aaron's family will then send the fat up in smoke, but the ribs belong to the priests. ^32-33The upper joint of the right hind leg is for the priest who offers the blood and the fat of the animal. ³⁴I have decided that the people of Israel must always give the choice ribs and the upper joint of the right hind leg to Aaron's descendants ³⁵who have been ordained as priests to serve me. ³⁶This law will never change. I am the LORD!

³⁷These are the ceremonies for sacrifices to please the LORD, to give him thanks, and to ask his blessing or his forgiveness, as well as the ceremonies for those sacrifices that demand a payment and for the sacrifices that are offered when priests are ordained. ³⁸While Moses and the people of Israel were in the desert at Mount Sinai, the LORD commanded them to start offering these sacrifices.

The Ceremony for Ordaining Priests
(Exodus 29.1-37)

Leviticus 8 The LORD said to Moses:

²Send for Aaron and his sons, as well as their priestly clothes, the oil for ordination, the bull for the sin offering, the two rams, and a basket of bread made without yeast. ³Then bring the whole community of Israel together at the entrance to the sacred tent.

⁴Moses obeyed the LORD, and when everyone had come together, ⁵he said, "We are here to follow the LORD's instructions."

⁶After Moses told Aaron and his sons to step forward, he had them wash themselves. ⁷He put the priestly shirt and robe on Aaron and wrapped the sash around his waist. Then he put the sacred vest on Aaron and fastened it with the finely woven belt. ⁸Next, he put on Aaron the sacred breastpiece that was used in learning what the LORD wanted his people to do. ⁹He placed the turban on Aaron's head, and on the front of the turban was the narrow strip of thin gold as a sign of his dedication to the LORD.

¹⁰Moses then dedicated the sacred tent and everything in it to the LORD by sprinkling them with some of the oil for ordination. ¹¹He sprinkled the bronze altar seven times, and he sprinkled its equipment, as well as the large bronze bowl and its base. ¹²He also poured some of the oil on Aaron's head to dedicate him to the LORD. ¹³At last, Moses dressed Aaron's sons in their shirts, then tied sashes around them and put special caps on them, just as the LORD had commanded.

¹⁴Moses led out the bull that was to be sacrificed for sin, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on its head. ¹⁵After it was killed, Moses dipped a finger in the blood and smeared some of it on each of the four corners of the bronze altar, before pouring out the rest at the foot of the altar. This purified the altar and made it a fit place for offering the sacrifice for sin. ¹⁶Moses then took the fat on the bull's insides, as well as the lower part of the liver and the two kidneys with their fat, and sent them up in smoke on the altar fire. ¹⁷Finally, he took the skin and the flesh of the bull, together with the food still in its stomach, and burned them outside the camp, just as the LORD had commanded.

¹⁸Moses led out the ram for the sacrifice to please the LORD. After Aaron and his sons had laid their hands on its head, ¹⁹Moses killed the ram and splattered its blood against the four sides of the altar. ^20-21Moses had the animal cut up, and he washed its insides and hind legs. Then he laid the head, the fat, and the rest of the ram on the altar and sent them up in smoke with a smell that pleased the LORD. All this was done just as the LORD had commanded.

²²Moses led out the ram for the ceremony of ordination. Aaron and his sons laid their hands on its head, ²³and it was killed. Moses smeared some of its blood on Aaron's right earlobe, some on his right thumb, and some on the big toe of his right foot. ²⁴Moses did the same thing for Aaron's sons, before splattering the rest of the blood against the four sides of the altar. ²⁵He took the animal's fat tail, the fat on its insides, and the lower part of the liver and the two kidneys with their fat, and the right hind leg. ²⁶Then he took from a basket some of each of the three kinds of bread that had been made without yeast and had been dedicated to the LORD.

²⁷Moses placed the bread on top of the meat and gave it all to Aaron and his sons, who lifted it up to show that it was dedicated to the LORD. ²⁸After this, Moses placed it on the fires of the altar and sent it up in smoke with a smell that pleased the LORD. This was part of the ordination ceremony. ²⁹Moses lifted up the choice ribs of the ram to show that they were dedicated to the LORD. This was the part that the LORD had said Moses could have.

³⁰Finally, Moses sprinkled the priestly clothes of Aaron and his sons with some of the oil for ordination and with some of the blood from the altar. So Aaron and his sons, together with their priestly clothes, were dedicated to the LORD.

³¹Moses said to Aaron and his sons:

The LORD told me that you must boil this meat at the entrance to the sacred tent and eat it there with the bread. ³²Burn what is left over ³³and stay near the entrance to the sacred tent until the ordination ceremony ends seven days from now. ³⁴We have obeyed the LORD in everything that has been done today, so that your sins may be forgiven. ³⁵The LORD has told me that you must stay near the entrance to the tent for seven days and nights, or else you will die.

³⁶Aaron and his sons obeyed everything that the LORD had told Moses they must do.

The Value of a Good Reputation

Proverbs 22 A good reputation and respect

are worth much more than silver and gold.

²The rich and the poor are all created by the LORD.

³When you see trouble coming, don't be stupid

and walk right into it-- be smart and hide.

⁴Respect and serve the LORD!

Your reward will be wealth, a long life, and honor.

⁵Crooks walk down a road full of thorny traps.

Stay away from there!

⁶Teach your children right from wrong,

and when they are grown they will still do right.

⁷The poor are ruled by the rich,

and those who borrow are slaves of moneylenders.

⁸Troublemakers get in trouble,

and their terrible anger will get them nowhere.

⁹The LORD blesses everyone

who freely gives food to the poor.

¹⁰Arguments and fights will come to an end,

if you chase away those who insult others.

¹¹The king is the friend of all who are sincere

and speak with kindness.

¹²The LORD watches over everyone

who shows good sense,

but he frustrates the plans of deceitful liars.

¹³Don't be so lazy that you say,

"If I go to work, a lion will eat me!"

¹⁴The words of a bad woman are like a deep pit;

if you make the LORD angry, you will fall right in.

¹⁵All children are foolish,

but firm correction will make them change.

¹⁶Cheat the poor to make profit or give gifts to the rich--

either way you lose.

Thirty Wise Sayings

¹⁷Here are some sayings of people with wisdom,

so listen carefully as I teach.

¹⁸You will be glad that you know these sayings

and can recite them.

¹⁹I am teaching them today,

so that you may trust the LORD.

²⁰I have written thirty sayings filled with sound advice.

²¹You can trust them completely

to give you the right words for those in charge of you.

--1--

²²Don't take advantage of the poor

or cheat them in court.

²³The LORD is their defender,

and what you do to them, he will do to you.

--2--

²⁴Don't make friends with anyone who has a bad temper.

²⁵You might turn out like them and get caught in a trap.

--3--

²⁶Don't guarantee to pay someone else's debt.

²⁷If you don't have the money, you might lose your bed.

--4--

²⁸Don't move a boundary marker set up by your ancestors.

--5--

²⁹If you do your job well,

you will work for a ruler and never be a slave.

These daily Bible readings from the Contemporary English Version (CEV) are published by BibleNetUSA. The web site and BibleCard® designs are by iCreative. BibleCard® images copyright iCreative. All rights reserved.