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Numbers 5

People Are Sent Outside the Camp

The Penalty for Committing a Crime

(Leviticus 6.1-7)

   If any of you commit a crime against someone, you have sinned against me. ⁷You must confess your guilt and pay the victim in full for whatever damage has been done, plus a fine of twenty percent. ⁸If the victim has no relative who can accept this money, it belongs to me and will be paid to the priest. In addition to that payment, you must take a ram for the priest to sacrifice so your sin will be forgiven.

    ^9-10When you make a donation to the sacred tent, that money belongs only to the priest, and each priest will keep what is given to him.

A Suspicious Husband

   Suppose a man becomes jealous and suspects that his wife has been unfaithful, but he has no proof. ¹⁵He must take his wife to the priest, together with two pounds of ground barley as an offering to find out if she is guilty. No olive oil or incense is to be put on that offering.

    ¹⁶The priest is to have the woman stand at my altar, ¹⁷where he will pour sacred water into a clay jar and stir in some dust from the floor of the sacred tent. ^18-22Next, he will remove her veil, then hand her the barley offering, and say, " If you have been faithful to your husband, this water won't harm you. But if you have been unfaithful, it will bring down the LORD's curse--you will never be able to give birth to a child, and everyone will curse your name."

   Then the woman will answer, " If I am guilty, let it happen just as you say."

    ²³The priest will write these curses on special paper and wash them off into the bitter water, ²⁴so that when the woman drinks this water, the curses will enter her body. ²⁵He will take the barley offering from her and lift it up ^[b] in dedication to me, the LORD. Then he will place it on my altar ²⁶and burn part of it as a sacrifice. After that, the woman must drink the bitter water. ²⁷If the woman has been unfaithful, the water will immediately make her unable to have children, and she will be a curse among her people. ²⁸But if she is innocent, her body will not be harmed, and she will still be able to have children.

    ^29-30This is the ceremony that must take place at my altar when a husband suspects that his wife has been unfaithful. The priest must have the woman stand in my presence and carefully follow these instructions. ³¹If the husband is wrong, he will not be punished; but if his wife is guilty, she will be punished.

Numbers 6

Rules for Nazirites

   If any of you want to dedicate yourself to me by vowing to become a Nazirite, ³you must no longer drink any wine or beer or use any kind of vinegar. Don't drink grape juice or eat grapes or raisins-- ⁴not even the seeds or skins.

    ⁵Even the hair of a Nazirite is sacred to me, and as long as you are a Nazirite, you must never cut your hair.

    ⁶During the time that you are a Nazirite, you must never go close to a dead body, ^7-8not even that of your father, mother, brother, or sister. That would make you unclean. Your hair is the sign that you are dedicated to me, so remain holy.

    ⁹If someone suddenly dies near you, your hair is no longer sacred, and you must shave it seven days later during the ceremony to make you clean. ¹⁰Then on the next day, bring two doves or two pigeons to the priest at the sacred tent. ¹¹He will offer one of the birds as a sacrifice for sin and the other as a sacrifice to please me. ^[c] You will then be forgiven for being too near a dead body, and your hair will again become sacred. ¹²But the dead body made you unacceptable, so you must make another vow to become a Nazirite and be dedicated once more. Finally, a year-old ram must be offered as the sacrifice to make things right. ¹³When you have completed your promised time of being a Nazirite, go to the sacred tent ¹⁴and offer three animals that have nothing wrong with them: a year-old ram as a sacrifice to please me, a year-old female lamb as a sacrifice for sin, and a full-grown ram as a sacrifice to ask my blessing. ^{[d] 15}Wine offerings and grain sacrifices must also be brought with these animals. Finally, you are to bring a basket of bread made with your finest flour and olive oil, but without yeast. Also bring some thin wafers brushed with oil. ¹⁶The priest will take these gifts to my altar and offer them, so that I will be pleased and will forgive you. ¹⁷Then he will sacrifice the ram and offer the wine, grain, and bread.

    ¹⁸After that, you will stand at the entrance to the sacred tent, shave your head, and put the hair in the fire where the priest has offered the sacrifice to ask my blessing.

    ¹⁹Once the meat from the ram's shoulder has been boiled, the priest will take it, along with one loaf of bread and one wafer brushed with oil, and give them to you. ²⁰You will hand them back to the priest, who will lift them up ^[e] in dedication to me. Then he can eat the meat from the ram's shoulder, its choice ribs, and its hind leg, because this is his share of the sacrifice. After this, you will no longer be a Nazirite and will be free to drink wine. ²¹These are the requirements for Nazirites. However, if you can afford to offer more, you must do so.

The Blessing for the People

    ²⁴I pray that the LORD

   will bless and protect you,

    ²⁵and that he will show you mercy

   and kindness.

    ²⁶May the LORD be good to you

   and give you peace."

    ²⁷Then the LORD said, " If Aaron and his sons ask me to bless the Israelites, I will give them my blessing."

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Mark 4

A Story about a Farmer

(Matthew 13.1-9; Luke 8.4-8)

    ³Now listen! A farmer went out to scatter seed in a field. ⁴While the farmer was scattering the seed, some of it fell along the road and was eaten by birds. ⁵Other seeds fell on thin, rocky ground and quickly started growing because the soil wasn't very deep. ⁶But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched and dried up, because they did not have enough roots. ⁷Some other seeds fell where thornbushes grew up and choked out the plants. So they did not produce any grain. ⁸But a few seeds did fall on good ground where the plants grew and produced thirty or sixty or even a hundred times as much as was scattered.

    ⁹Then Jesus said, "If you have ears, pay attention."

Why Jesus Used Stories

(Matthew 13.10-17; Luke 8.9,10)

   I have explained the secret about God's kingdom to you, but for others I can use only stories. ¹²The reason is,

   "These people will look

   and look, but never see.

   They will listen and listen,

   but never understand.

   If they did,

   they would turn to God,

   and he would forgive them."

Jesus Explains the Story about the Farmer

(Matthew 13.18-23; Luke 8.11-15)

   If you don't understand this story, you won't understand any others. ¹⁴What the farmer is spreading is really the message about the kingdom. ¹⁵The seeds that fell along the road are the people who hear the message. But Satan soon comes and snatches it away from them. ¹⁶The seeds that fell on rocky ground are the people who gladly hear the message and accept it right away. ¹⁷But they don't have any roots, and they don't last very long. As soon as life gets hard or the message gets them in trouble, they give up.

    ¹⁸The seeds that fell among the thornbushes are also people who hear the message. ¹⁹But they start worrying about the needs of this life. They are fooled by the desire to get rich and to have all kinds of other things. So the message gets choked out, and they never produce anything. ²⁰The seeds that fell on good ground are the people who hear and welcome the message. They produce thirty or sixty or even a hundred times as much as was planted.