Daily Bible CEV March 23 Scroll

Jesus Again Tells about His Death
(Mark 10.32-34; Luke 18.31-34)

Matthew 20 ¹⁷As Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem, he took his twelve disciples aside and told them in private:

¹⁸We are now on our way to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the teachers of the Law of Moses. They will sentence him to death, ¹⁹and then they will hand him over to foreigners who will make fun of him. They will beat him and nail him to a cross. But on the third day he will rise from death.

A Mother's Request
(Mark 10.35-45)

²⁰The mother of James and John came to Jesus with her two sons. She knelt down and started begging him to do something for her. ²¹Jesus asked her what she wanted, and she said, "When you come into your kingdom, please let one of my sons sit at your right side and the other at your left."

²²Jesus answered, "Not one of you knows what you are asking. Are you able to drink from the cup that I must soon drink from?"

James and John said, "Yes, we are!"

²³Jesus replied, "You certainly will drink from my cup! But it isn't for me to say who will sit at my right side and at my left. That is for my Father to say."

²⁴When the ten other disciples heard this, they were angry with the two brothers. ²⁵But Jesus called the disciples together and said:

You know that foreign rulers like to order their people around. And their great leaders have full power over everyone they rule. ²⁶But don't act like them. If you want to be great, you must be the servant of all the others. ²⁷And if you want to be first, you must be the slave of the rest. ²⁸The Son of Man did not come to be a slave master, but a slave who will give his life to rescue many people.

Jesus Heals Two Blind Men
(Mark 10.46-52; Luke 18.35-43)

²⁹Jesus was followed by a large crowd as he and his disciples were leaving Jericho. ³⁰Two blind men were sitting beside the road. And when they heard that Jesus was coming their way, they shouted, "Lord and Son of David, have pity on us!"

³¹The crowd told them to be quiet, but they shouted even louder, "Lord and Son of David, have pity on us!"

³²When Jesus heard them, he stopped and asked, "What do you want me to do for you?"

³³They answered, "Lord, we want to see!"

³⁴Jesus felt sorry for them and touched their eyes. Right away they could see, and they became his followers.

Laws about Sacrifices

Numbers 15 The LORD told Moses ²to give the Israelites the following laws about offering sacrifices:

³Bulls or rams or goats are the animals that you may burn on the altar as sacrifices to please me. You may also offer sacrifices voluntarily or because you made a promise, or because they are part of your regular religious ceremonies. The smell of the smoke from these sacrifices is pleasing to me.

^4-5If you sacrifice a young ram or goat, you must also offer two pounds of your finest flour mixed with a quart of olive oil as a grain sacrifice. A quart of wine must also be poured on the altar.

^6-7And if the animal is a full-grown ram, you must offer four pounds of flour mixed with one and a half quarts of olive oil. One and a half quarts of wine must also be poured on the altar. The smell of this smoke is pleasing to me.

⁸If a bull is offered as a sacrifice to please me or to ask my blessing, ⁹you must offer six pounds of flour mixed with two quarts of olive oil. ¹⁰Two quarts of wine must also be poured on the altar. The smell of this smoke is pleasing to me.

^11-13If you are a native Israelite, you must obey these rules each time you offer a bull, a ram, or a goat as a sacrifice. ¹⁴And the foreigners who live among you must also follow these rules. ^15-16This law will never change. I am the LORD, and I consider all people the same, whether they are Israelites or foreigners living among you.

^17-19When you eat food in the land that I am giving you, remember to set aside some of it as an offering to me. ²⁰From the first batch of bread dough that you make after each new grain harvest, make a loaf of bread and offer it to me, just as you offer grain. ²¹All your descendants must follow this law and offer part of the first batch of bread dough.

^22-23The LORD also told Moses to tell the people what must be done if they ever disobey his laws:

²⁴If all of you disobey one of my laws without meaning to, you must offer a bull as a sacrifice to please me, together with a grain sacrifice, a wine offering, and a goat as a sacrifice for sin. ²⁵Then the priest will pray and ask me to forgive you. And since you did not mean to do wrong, and you offered sacrifices, ²⁶the sin of everyone--both Israelites and foreigners among you--will be forgiven.

²⁷But if one of you does wrong without meaning to, you must sacrifice a year-old female goat as a sacrifice for sin. ²⁸The priest will then ask me to forgive you, and your sin will be forgiven.

²⁹The law will be the same for anyone who does wrong without meaning to, whether an Israelite or a foreigner living among you.

^30-31But if one of you does wrong on purpose, whether Israelite or foreigner, you have sinned against me by disobeying my laws. You will be sent away and will no longer live among the people of Israel.

A Man Put to Death for Gathering Firewood on the Sabbath

³²Once, while the Israelites were traveling through the desert, a man was caught gathering firewood on the Sabbath. ³³He was taken to Moses, Aaron, and the rest of the community. ³⁴But no one knew what to do with him, so he was not allowed to leave.

³⁵Then the LORD said to Moses, "Tell the people to take that man outside the camp and stone him to death!" ³⁶So he was killed, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

The Tassels on the People's Clothes

³⁷The LORD told Moses ³⁸to say to the people of Israel, "Sew tassels onto the bottom edge of your clothes and tie a purple string to each tassel. ^39-40These will remind you that you must obey my laws and teachings. And when you do, you will be dedicated to me and won't follow your own sinful desires. ⁴¹I am the LORD your God who led you out of Egypt."

Korah, Dathan, and Abiram Lead a Rebellion

Numbers 16 ^1-2Korah son of Izhar was a Levite from the Kohathite clan. One day he called together Dathan, Abiram, and On from the Reuben tribe, and the four of them decided to rebel against Moses. So they asked two hundred fifty respected Israelite leaders for their support, and together they went to Moses ³and Aaron and said, "Why do you think you're so much better than anyone else? We're part of the LORD's holy people, and he's with all of us. What makes you think you're the only ones in charge?"

⁴When Moses heard this, he knelt down to pray. ⁵Then he said to Korah and his followers:

Tomorrow morning the LORD will show us the person he has chosen to be his priest, and that man will faithfully serve him.

^6-7Korah, now here is what you and your followers must do: Get some fire pans, fill them with coals and incense, and place them near the sacred tent. And the man the LORD chooses will be his priest. Korah, this time you Levites have gone too far!

^8-9You know that the God of Israel has chosen you Levites from all Israel to serve him by being in charge of the sacred tent and by helping the community to worship in the proper way. What more do you want? ¹⁰The LORD has given you a special responsibility, and now, Korah, you think you should also be his priest. ¹¹You and your followers have rebelled against the LORD, not against Aaron.

¹²Then Moses sent for Dathan and Abiram, but they sent back this message: "We won't come! ¹³It's bad enough that you took us from our rich farmland in Egypt to let us die here in the desert. Now you also want to boss us around! ¹⁴You keep promising us rich farmlands with fertile fields and vineyards--but where are they? Stop trying to trick these people. No, we won't come to see you."

¹⁵Moses was very angry and said to the LORD, "Don't listen to these men! I haven't done anything wrong to them. I haven't taken as much as a donkey."

¹⁶Then he said to Korah, "Tomorrow you and your followers must go with Aaron to the LORD's sacred tent. ¹⁷Each of you take along your fire pan with incense in it and offer the incense to the LORD."

¹⁸The next day the men placed incense and coals in their fire pans and stood with Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the sacred tent. ¹⁹Meanwhile, Korah had convinced the rest of the Israelites to rebel against their two leaders.

When that happened, the LORD appeared in all his glory ²⁰and said to Moses and Aaron, ²¹"Get away from the rest of the Israelites so I can kill them right now!"

²²But the two men bowed down and prayed, "Our God, you gave these people life. Why would you punish everyone here when only one man has sinned?"

²³The LORD answered Moses, ²⁴"Tell the people to stay away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram."

²⁵Moses walked over to Dathan and Abiram, and the other leaders of Israel followed. ²⁶Then Moses warned the people, "Get away from the tents of these sinful men! Don't touch anything that belongs to them or you'll be wiped out." ²⁷So everyone moved away from those tents, except Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and their families.

²⁸Moses said to the crowd, "The LORD has chosen me and told me to do these things--it wasn't my idea. And here's how you will know: ²⁹If these men die a natural death, it means the LORD hasn't chosen me. ³⁰But suppose the LORD does something that has never been done before. For example, what if a huge crack appears in the ground, and these men and their families fall into it and are buried alive, together with everything they own? Then you will know they have turned their backs on the LORD!"

³¹As soon as Moses said this, the ground under the men opened up ^32-33and swallowed them alive, together with their families and everything they owned. Then the ground closed back up, and they were gone.

³⁴The rest of the Israelites heard their screams, so they ran off, shouting, "We don't want that to happen to us!"

³⁵Suddenly the LORD sent a fire that burned up the two hundred fifty men who had offered incense to him.

³⁶Then the LORD said to Moses, ³⁷"Tell Aaron's son Eleazar to take the fire pans from the smoldering fire and scatter the coals. The pans are now sacred, ³⁸because they were used for offering incense to me. Have them hammered into a thin layer of bronze as a covering for the altar. Those men died because of their sin, and now their fire pans will become a warning for the rest of the community."

³⁹Eleazar collected the pans and had them hammered into a thin layer of bronze as a covering for the altar, ⁴⁰just as the LORD had told Moses. The pans were a warning to the Israelites that only Aaron's descendants would be allowed to offer incense to the LORD. Anyone else who tried would be punished like Korah and his followers.

The Israelites Rebel and Are Punished

⁴¹The next day the people of Israel again complained against Moses and Aaron, "The two of you killed some of the LORD's people!"

⁴²As the people crowded around them, Moses and Aaron turned toward the sacred tent, and the LORD appeared in his glory in the cloud covering the tent. ⁴³So Moses and Aaron walked to the front of the tent, ⁴⁴where the LORD said to them, ⁴⁵"Stand back! I am going to wipe out these Israelites once and for all."

They immediately bowed down and prayed. ⁴⁶Then Moses told Aaron, "Grab your fire pan and fill it with hot coals from the altar. Put incense in it, then quickly take it to where the people are and offer it to the LORD, so they can be forgiven. The LORD is very angry, and people have already started dying!"

^47-48Aaron did exactly what he had been told. He ran over to the crowd of people and stood between the dead bodies and the people who were still alive. He placed the incense on the pan, then offered it to the LORD and asked him to forgive the people's sin. The disease immediately stopped spreading, and no one else died from it. ⁴⁹But fourteen thousand seven hundred Israelites were dead, not counting those who had died with Korah and his followers.

⁵⁰Aaron walked back and stood with Moses at the sacred tent.

Better To Be Wise than Foolish

Ecclesiastes 9 ¹³Once I saw what people really think of wisdom. ¹⁴It happened when a powerful ruler surrounded and attacked a small city where only a few people lived. The enemy army was getting ready to break through the city walls. ¹⁵But the city was saved by the wisdom of a poor person who was soon forgotten. ¹⁶So I decided that wisdom is better than strength. Yet if you are poor, no one pays any attention to you, no matter how smart you are.

¹⁷Words of wisdom spoken softly make much more sense

than the shouts of a ruler to a crowd of fools.

¹⁸Wisdom is more powerful than weapons,

yet one mistake can destroy

all the good you have done.
Ecclesiastes 10 A few dead flies in perfume make all of it stink,

and a little foolishness outweighs a lot of wisdom.

²Sensible thoughts lead you to do right;

foolish thoughts lead you to do wrong.

³Fools show their stupidity by the way they live;

it's easy to see they have no sense.

⁴Don't give up your job when your boss gets angry.

If you stay calm, you'll be forgiven.

⁵Some things rulers do are terribly unfair: ⁶They honor fools, but dishonor the rich; ⁷they let slaves ride on horses, but force slave owners to walk.

⁸If you dig a pit, you might fall in;

if you break down a wall, a snake might bite you.

⁹You could even get hurt by chiseling a stone

or chopping a log.

¹⁰If you don't sharpen your ax, it will be harder to use;

if you are smart, you'll know what to do.

¹¹The power to charm a snake does you no good

if it bites you anyway.

¹²If you talk sensibly, you will have friends;

if you talk foolishly, you will destroy yourself.

¹³Fools begin with nonsense, and their stupid chatter

ends with disaster.

¹⁴They never tire of talking, but none of us really know

what the future will bring.

¹⁵Fools wear themselves out-- they don't know enough

to find their way home.

¹⁶A country is in for trouble when its ruler is childish,

and its leaders party all day long.

¹⁷But a nation will prosper when its ruler is mature,

and its leaders don't party too much.

¹⁸Some people are too lazy to fix a leaky roof--

then the house falls in.

¹⁹Eating and drinking make you feel happy,

and bribes can buy everything you need.

²⁰Don't even think about cursing the king;

don't curse the rich, not even in secret.

A little bird might hear and tell everything.

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.