The Daily Audio Bible

Instructions about the red cow and the water of purification

19 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron: ² This is the regulation in the Instruction that the Lord commanded. Tell the Israelites that they must bring you a red cow without defect, which is flawless and on which no yoke has been laid. ³ You will give it to Eleazar the priest, and he will take it outside the camp and slaughter it in front of him. ⁴ Eleazar the priest will take some of its blood with his finger and sprinkle it seven times in front of the meeting tent. ⁵ Then he will burn the cow in front of him, its skin, flesh, and blood, with its dung. ⁶ The priest will take cedarwood, hyssop, and crimson cloth and throw them into the fire where the cow is burning. ⁷ Then the priest will wash his clothes and bathe his body in water. Afterward the priest will enter the camp, but he will be unclean until evening. ⁸ The one who burned the cow will wash his clothes in water and bathe his body in water, but he will be unclean until evening. ⁹ A person who is clean will gather the ashes of the cow and place them outside the camp in a clean place. They will be kept for the water of purification for the Israelite community as a purification offering. ¹⁰ The one who gathers the ashes of the cow will wash his clothes but will be unclean until evening. This will be a permanent regulation for the Israelites and for the immigrant who lives among them.

Contact with a dead body

¹¹ The person who touches the dead body of any human will be unclean for seven days. ¹² That person must be cleansed with water on the third and seventh days to be clean. If he fails to be cleansed with water on the third and seventh days, he will not be clean. ¹³ Anyone who touches the body of a human who has died and doesn’t cleanse himself defiles the Lord’s dwelling. Such persons must be cut off from Israel because the water of purification wasn’t sprinkled on them. They remain unclean.

¹⁴ This is the instruction: When anyone dies in a tent, all who go into the tent and all who are in the tent are unclean for seven days. ¹⁵ Any open jar without a sealed cover on it is unclean. ¹⁶ Anyone in the open field who touches a person slain by the sword, or who died naturally, or a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days. ¹⁷ For the unclean person, they will take some of the ashes of the purification offering and place fresh water with it in a jar. ¹⁸ Then a clean person will take hyssop, dip it into the water, and sprinkle it on the tent, on all the jars, on the people who were there, and on anyone who touched bone, the slain, the dead, or the grave. ¹⁹ On the third day and the seventh day the clean person will sprinkle it on the unclean, so that he will have purified him on the seventh day. He will then wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be clean at evening. ²⁰ Any person who is unclean and didn’t cleanse himself will be cut off from the assembly, because he has defiled the Lord’s sanctuary. He didn’t have the water of purification sprinkled on him. He is unclean. ²¹ This will be a permanent regulation for them. The one who sprinkles the water of purification will wash his own clothes. Anyone who touches the water of purification will be unclean until evening. ²² Whoever the unclean person touches will be unclean, and the one who touches the unclean will be unclean until evening.

Lawsuit over water and Moses’ disobedience

20 In the first month,^[a] the entire Israelite community entered the Zin desert and the people stayed at Kadesh. Miriam died and was buried there. ² Now there was no water for the community, and they assembled against Moses and Aaron. ³ Then the people confronted Moses and said to him, “If only we too had died when our brothers perished in the Lord’s presence! ⁴ Why have you brought the Lord’s assembly into this desert to kill us and our animals here? ⁵ Why have you led us up from Egypt to bring us to this evil place without grain, figs, vines, or pomegranates? And there’s no water to drink!”

⁶ Moses and Aaron went away from the assembly to the entrance of the meeting tent and they fell on their faces. Then the Lord’s glory appeared to them. ⁷ The Lord spoke to Moses: ⁸ “You and Aaron your brother, take the staff and assemble the community. In their presence, tell the rock to provide water. You will produce water from the rock for them and allow the community and their animals to drink.”

⁹ Moses took the staff from the Lord’s presence, as the Lord had commanded him. ¹⁰ Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly before the rock. He said to them, “Listen, you rebels! Should we produce water from the rock for you?” ¹¹ Then Moses raised his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice. Out flooded water so that the community and their animals could drink.

¹² The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you didn’t trust me to show my holiness before the Israelites, you will not bring this assembly into the land that I am giving them.” ¹³ These were the waters of Meribah,^[b] where the Israelites confronted the Lord with controversy and he showed his holiness to them.

The Israelites confront Edom

¹⁴ Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom: “This is what your brother Israel says: ‘You know all the adversity that has happened to us. ¹⁵ How our ancestors went down to Egypt and lived in Egypt for a long time. The Egyptians oppressed us as they had our ancestors, ¹⁶ and we cried out to the Lord. He heard our voice, sent a messenger, and brought us out of Egypt. Now here we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your border. ¹⁷ Please let us cross through your land. We won’t pass through any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well. We will walk on the King’s Highway and not turn to the right or to the left until we have crossed your border.’”

¹⁸ Edom said to him, “You won’t cross through, or I will come out against you with a sword.”

¹⁹ The Israelites said to him, “We’ll go up by the road. If we drink from your water, either we or our livestock, we’ll pay for it. It’s a small matter. We would only ask to cross on foot.”

²⁰ But he said, “You won’t cross.” Then Edom came out against them with a powerful army and a strong hand. ²¹ Edom refused to allow Israel to cross his border. And Israel turned away from him. ²² They marched from Kadesh.

Aaron’s death at Mount Hor

The entire Israelite community came to Mount Hor. ²³ The Lord said to Moses and Aaron at Mount Hor on the border of the land of Edom: ²⁴ Aaron will join his ancestors, for he may not enter the land that I’ve given to the Israelites, because you rebelled against my command at the waters of Meribah. ²⁵ Take Aaron and his son Eleazar, and bring them up Mount Hor. ²⁶ Strip Aaron of his clothes and put them on Eleazar his son. Then Aaron will die there.

²⁷ Moses did as the Lord commanded. They went up Mount Hor in the sight of the entire community. ²⁸ Moses stripped Aaron of his clothes and put them on Eleazar his son. Aaron died there at the top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar descended from the mountain. ²⁹ When the entire community saw that Aaron had died, the entire household of Israel wept thirty days for Aaron.

Luke’s purpose

1 Many people have already applied themselves to the task of compiling an account of the events that have been fulfilled among us. ² They used what the original eyewitnesses and servants of the word handed down to us. ³ Now, after having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, I have also decided to write a carefully ordered account for you, most honorable Theophilus. ⁴ I want you to have confidence in the soundness of the instruction you have received.

John the Baptist’s birth foretold

⁵ During the rule of King Herod of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah. His wife Elizabeth was a descendant of Aaron. ⁶ They were both righteous before God, blameless in their observance of all the Lord’s commandments and regulations. ⁷ They had no children because Elizabeth was unable to become pregnant and they both were very old. ⁸ One day Zechariah was serving as a priest before God because his priestly division was on duty. ⁹ Following the customs of priestly service, he was chosen by lottery to go into the Lord’s sanctuary and burn incense. ¹⁰ All the people who gathered to worship were praying outside during this hour of incense offering. ¹¹ An angel from the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense. ¹² When Zechariah saw the angel, he was startled and overcome with fear.

¹³ The angel said, “Don’t be afraid, Zechariah. Your prayers have been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will give birth to your son and you must name him John. ¹⁴ He will be a joy and delight to you, and many people will rejoice at his birth, ¹⁵ for he will be great in the Lord’s eyes. He must not drink wine and liquor. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before his birth. ¹⁶ He will bring many Israelites back to the Lord their God. ¹⁷ He will go forth before the Lord, equipped with the spirit and power of Elijah. He will turn the hearts of fathers^[a] back to their children, and he will turn the disobedient to righteous patterns of thinking. He will make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

¹⁸ Zechariah said to the angel, “How can I be sure of this? My wife and I are very old.”

¹⁹ The angel replied, “I am Gabriel. I stand in God’s presence. I was sent to speak to you and to bring this good news to you. ²⁰ Know this: What I have spoken will come true at the proper time. But because you didn’t believe, you will remain silent, unable to speak until the day when these things happen.”

²¹ Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they wondered why he was in the sanctuary for such a long time. ²² When he came out, he was unable to speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he gestured to them and couldn’t speak. ²³ When he completed the days of his priestly service, he returned home. ²⁴ Afterward, his wife Elizabeth became pregnant. She kept to herself for five months, saying, ²⁵ “This is the Lord’s doing. He has shown his favor to me by removing my disgrace among other people.”

Psalm 56

For the music leader. According to “The Silent Dove of Distant Places.” A miktam^[a] of David, when the Philistines seized him in Gath.