Ordinance of the Red Heifer

19 Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, ² “This is the statute of the law which the Lord has commanded, saying, ‘Speak to the sons of Israel that they bring you an ^(A)unblemished red heifer in which there is no defect and ^(B)on which a yoke has never ^[a]been mounted. ³ And you shall give it to ^(C)Eleazar the priest, and it shall ^(D)be brought outside the camp and be slaughtered in his presence. ⁴ And Eleazar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger and ^(E)sprinkle some of its blood toward the front of the tent of meeting seven times. ⁵ Then the heifer shall be burned in his sight; ^(F)its hide, its flesh, and its blood, with its refuse, shall be burned. ⁶ And the priest shall take ^(G)cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet material, and throw it into the midst of the ^[b]burning heifer. ⁷ The priest ^(H)shall then wash his clothes and bathe his ^[c]body in water, and afterward come into the camp; but the priest will be ^[d]unclean until evening. ⁸ The one who burns ^[e]the heifer shall also wash his clothes in water and bathe his ^[f]body in water, and will be unclean until evening. ⁹ Now a man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and put them outside the camp in a clean place, and ^[g]the congregation of the sons of Israel shall keep them for ^(I)water to remove impurity; it is ^[h]purification from sin. ¹⁰ And the one who gathers the ashes of the heifer ^(J)shall wash his clothes and will be unclean until evening; and it shall be a permanent statute for the sons of Israel and for the stranger who resides among them.

¹¹ ‘^(K)The one who touches the dead body of any ^[i]person will also be unclean for seven days. ¹² That one shall ^(L)purify himself with ^[j]the water on the third day and on the seventh day, and then he will be clean; but if he does not purify himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not be clean. ^13 (M)Anyone who touches a dead body, the ^[k]body of a person who has died, and does not purify himself, ^(N)defiles the ^[l]tabernacle of the Lord; and that person shall be cut off from Israel. Since the water for impurity was not ^(O)sprinkled on him, he will be unclean; his uncleanness is still on him.

¹⁴ ‘This is the law when a person dies in a tent: everyone who comes into the tent and everyone who is in the tent will be unclean for seven days. ¹⁵ And every open container, which has no cover tied down on it, will be unclean. ^16 (P)Also, anyone who in the open field touches one who has been killed with a sword or one who has died naturally, or touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days. ¹⁷ Then for the unclean person they shall take some of the ^[m]ashes of the ^[n]burnt ^[o](Q)purification from sin and ^[p]running water shall be ^[q]added to them in a container. ¹⁸ And a clean person shall take hyssop and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it on the tent, on all the furnishings, on the persons who were there, and on the one who touched the bone or the one who was killed or the one who died naturally, or the grave. ¹⁹ Then the clean person ^(R)shall sprinkle on the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day; and on the seventh day he shall purify him, and he shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and will be clean by evening.

²⁰ ‘But the person who is unclean and does not purify himself, that person shall be cut off from the midst of the assembly, because he has ^(S)defiled the sanctuary of the Lord; the water for impurity has not been sprinkled on him, so he is unclean. ²¹ So it shall be a permanent statute for them. And the one ^(T)who sprinkles the water for impurity shall wash his clothes, and the one who touches the water for impurity will be unclean until evening. ^22 (U)Furthermore, anything that the unclean person touches will be unclean; and the person who touches it will be unclean until evening.’”

Pleading for Help and Grateful Trust in God.

For the music director; according to ^[a]Jonath elem rehokim. A ^[b]Mikhtam of David, ^[c]when the Philistines seized him in Gath.

Prayer for Rescue from Persecutors.

For the music director; set to ^[s]Al-tashheth. A ^[t]Mikhtam of David, ^[u]when he fled from Saul in the cave.

The Sin of Partiality

2 ^(A)My brothers and sisters, ^(B)do not hold your faith in our ^(C)glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of ^(D)personal favoritism. ² For if a man comes into your ^[a]assembly with a gold ring and is dressed in ^(E)bright clothes, and a poor man in ^(F)dirty clothes also comes in, ³ and you ^[b]pay special attention to the one who is wearing the ^(G)bright clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” ⁴ have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges ^(H)with evil ^[c]motives? ⁵ Listen, ^(I)my beloved brothers and sisters: did ^(J)God not choose the poor ^[d]of this world to be ^(K)rich in faith and ^(L)heirs of the kingdom which He ^(M)promised to those who love Him? ⁶ But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and ^[e]personally ^(N)drag you into ^[f]court? ^7 (O)Do they not blaspheme the good name ^[g]by which you have been called?

⁸ If, however, you ^(P)are fulfilling the ^[h]royal law according to the Scripture, “^(Q)You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. ⁹ But if you ^(R)show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the Law as violators. ¹⁰ For whoever keeps the whole Law, yet ^(S)stumbles in one point, has become ^(T)guilty of all. ¹¹ For He who said, “^(U)Do not commit adultery,” also said, “^(V)Do not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but do murder, you have become a violator of the Law. ¹² So speak, and so act, as those who are to be judged by ^(W)the law of freedom. ¹³ For ^(X)judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy ^[i]triumphs over judgment.

Faith and Works

^14 (Y)What use is it, ^(Z)my brothers and sisters, if someone says he has faith, but he has no works? Can ^[j]that faith save him? ^15 (AA)If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, ¹⁶ and one of you says to them, “^(AB)Go in peace, ^[k]be warmed and be filled,” yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? ¹⁷ In the same way, ^(AC)faith also, if it has no works, is ^[l]dead, being by itself.

^18 (AD)But someone ^[m]may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your ^(AE)faith without the works, and I will ^(AF)show you my faith ^(AG)by my works.” ¹⁹ You believe that ^[n](AH)God is one. ^(AI)You do well; ^(AJ)the demons also believe, and shudder. ²⁰ But are you willing to acknowledge, ^(AK)you foolish person, that ^(AL)faith without works is useless? ^21 (AM)Was our father Abraham not justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? ²² You see that ^(AN)faith was working with his works, and ^[o]as a result of the ^(AO)works, faith was ^[p]perfected; ²³ and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “^(AP)And Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called a ^(AQ)friend of God. ²⁴ You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. ²⁵ In the same way, was ^(AR)Rahab the prostitute not justified by works also ^(AS)when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? ²⁶ For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also ^(AT)faith without works is dead.