Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Burden Too Heavy for Me

Psalm 38

5 “If a soul sins—after hearing a charge of an oath, and he is a witness whether he has seen or otherwise known—if he fails to report it, then he will bear his guilt.

² “Or if a person touches any unclean thing—whether it is the carcass of an unclean animal or the carcass of unclean livestock or the carcass of unclean creeping things, though it is hidden from him, still he is unclean and he will be guilty.

³ “Or if he touches some human uncleanness, whatever his filth is by which he is unclean, though it is hidden from him, when he knows of it, then he will be guilty.

⁴ “Or if a person swears rashly with his lips to do evil or to do good—about anything that one might utter rashly by an oath, though it is hidden from him, when he realizes it, then he will be guilty of one of these.

⁵ “So it will be, when one becomes guilty of one of these things, he should confess about what he has sinned. ^{[a] 6} Then he is to bring his trespass offering to Adonai for his sin that he committed: a female from the flock, a lamb or a goat, as a sin offering. So the kohen is to make atonement for him over his sin.

⁷ “But if one cannot afford a lamb, then he should bring, as his trespass offering for the sin he committed, two turtledoves or two young pigeons, to Adonai. One is for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. ⁸ He is to bring them to the kohen, who will present the one for the sin offering first, and twist its head from its neck but not sever it completely. ⁹ He is to sprinkle some of the blood of the sin offering on the side of the altar, while the rest of the blood is to be drained out at the base of the altar. It is a sin offering. ¹⁰ He is to make the second a burnt offering, according to the regulation. So the kohen is to make atonement for one over his sin that he committed—and he will be forgiven.

¹¹ “But if one cannot afford two turtledoves or two young pigeons, then he is to bring as his offering for the sin he has committed a tenth of an ephah^[b] of fine flour as a sin offering. He is to put no oil on it nor put any frankincense on it, for it is a sin offering. ¹² He is to bring it to the kohen, then the kohen is to take his handful of it as the memorial portion and burn it up as smoke on the altar, on Adonai’s offerings by fire. It is a sin offering. ¹³ The kohen is to make atonement for him over his sin that one has committed in any of these things—and he will be forgiven. The rest belongs to the kohen, just like the meal offering.”

Back to Teaching His Own

17 Then Yeshua said to His disciples, “Stumbling blocks are bound to come, but woe to the one by whom they come! ² It would be better for him to have a millstone put around his neck and to be hurled into the sea, than for him to cause one of these little ones to stumble.

³ “Keep yourselves alert! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. ⁴ Even if he sins against you seven times a day, and seven times returns to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.”