Leviticus 7, Psalm 7, 8, Proverbs 22, 1 Thessalonians 1

Leviticus 7,

1 " 'These are the regulations for the guilt offering, which is most holy:
 
2 The guilt offering is to be slaughtered in the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered, and its blood is to be sprinkled against the altar on all sides.
 
3 All its fat shall be offered: the fat tail and the fat that covers the inner parts,
 
4 both kidneys with the fat on them near the loins, and the covering of the liver, which is to be removed with the kidneys.
 
5 The priest shall burn them on the altar as an offering made to the LORD by fire. It is a guilt offering.
 
6 Any male in a priest's family may eat it, but it must be eaten in a holy place; it is most holy.
 
7 " 'The same law applies to both the sin offering and the guilt offering: They belong to the priest who makes atonement with them.
 
8 The priest who offers a burnt offering for anyone may keep its hide for himself.
 
9 Every grain offering baked in an oven or cooked in a pan or on a griddle belongs to the priest who offers it,
 
10 and every grain offering, whether mixed with oil or dry, belongs equally to all the sons of Aaron.
 
11 " 'These are the regulations for the fellowship offering a person may present to the LORD :
 
12 " 'If he offers it as an expression of thankfulness, then along with this thank offering he is to offer cakes of bread made without yeast and mixed with oil, wafers made without yeast and spread with oil, and cakes of fine flour well-kneaded and mixed with oil.
 
13 Along with his fellowship offering of thanksgiving he is to present an offering with cakes of bread made with yeast.
 
14 He is to bring one of each kind as an offering, a contribution to the LORD; it belongs to the priest who sprinkles the blood of the fellowship offerings.
 
15 The meat of his fellowship offering of thanksgiving must be eaten on the day it is offered; he must leave none of it till morning.
 
16 " 'If, however, his offering is the result of a vow or is a freewill offering, the sacrifice shall be eaten on the day he offers it, but anything left over may be eaten on the next day.
 
17 Any meat of the sacrifice left over till the third day must be burned up.
 
18 If any meat of the fellowship offering is eaten on the third day, it will not be accepted. It will not be credited to the one who offered it, for it is impure; the person who eats any of it will be held responsible.
 
19 " 'Meat that touches anything ceremonially unclean must not be eaten; it must be burned up. As for other meat, anyone ceremonially clean may eat it.
 
20 But if anyone who is unclean eats any meat of the fellowship offering belonging to the LORD, that person must be cut off from his people.
 
21 If anyone touches something unclean-whether human uncleanness or an unclean animal or any unclean, detestable thing-and then eats any of the meat of the fellowship offering belonging to the LORD, that person must be cut off from his people.' "
 
22 The LORD said to Moses,
 
23 "Say to the Israelites: 'Do not eat any of the fat of cattle, sheep or goats.
 
24 The fat of an animal found dead or torn by wild animals may be used for any other purpose, but you must not eat it.
 
25 Anyone who eats the fat of an animal from which an offering by fire may be made to the LORD must be cut off from his people.
 
26 And wherever you live, you must not eat the blood of any bird or animal.
 
27 If anyone eats blood, that person must be cut off from his people.' "
 
28 The LORD said to Moses,
 
29 "Say to the Israelites: 'Anyone who brings a fellowship offering to the LORD is to bring part of it as his sacrifice to the LORD.
 
30 With his own hands he is to bring the offering made to the LORD by fire; he is to bring the fat, together with the breast, and wave the breast before the LORD as a wave offering.
 
31 The priest shall burn the fat on the altar, but the breast belongs to Aaron and his sons.
 
32 You are to give the right thigh of your fellowship offerings to the priest as a contribution.
 
33 The son of Aaron who offers the blood and the fat of the fellowship offering shall have the right thigh as his share.
 
34 From the fellowship offerings of the Israelites, I have taken the breast that is waved and the thigh that is presented and have given them to Aaron the priest and his sons as their regular share from the Israelites.' "
 
35 This is the portion of the offerings made to the LORD by fire that were allotted to Aaron and his sons on the day they were presented to serve the LORD as priests.
 
36 On the day they were anointed, the LORD commanded that the Israelites give this to them as their regular share for the generations to come.
 
37 These, then, are the regulations for the burnt offering, the grain offering, the sin offering, the guilt offering, the ordination offering and the fellowship offering,
 
38 which the LORD gave Moses on Mount Sinai on the day he commanded the Israelites to bring their offerings to the LORD, in the Desert of Sinai.

Psalm 7, 8,

1 O LORD my God, I take refuge in you; save and deliver me from all who pursue me,
 
2 or they will tear me like a lion and rip me to pieces with no one to rescue me.
 
3 O LORD my God, if I have done this and there is guilt on my hands-
 
4 if I have done evil to him who is at peace with me or without cause have robbed my foe-
 
5 then let my enemy pursue and overtake me; let him trample my life to the ground and make me sleep in the dust. Selah
 
6 Arise, O LORD, in your anger; rise up against the rage of my enemies. Awake, my God; decree justice.
 
7 Let the assembled peoples gather around you. Rule over them from on high;
 
8 let the LORD judge the peoples. Judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness, according to my integrity, O Most High.
 
9 O righteous God, who searches minds and hearts, bring to an end the violence of the wicked and make the righteous secure.
 
10 My shield is God Most High, who saves the upright in heart.
 
11 God is a righteous judge, a God who expresses his wrath every day.
 
12 If he does not relent, he will sharpen his sword; he will bend and string his bow.
 
13 He has prepared his deadly weapons; he makes ready his flaming arrows.
 
14 He who is pregnant with evil and conceives trouble gives birth to disillusionment.
 
15 He who digs a hole and scoops it out falls into the pit he has made.
 
16 The trouble he causes recoils on himself; his violence comes down on his own head.
 
17 I will give thanks to the LORD because of his righteousness and will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High.

1 O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.
 
2 From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.
 
3 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
 
4 what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?
 
5 You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.
 
6 You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet:
 
7 all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field,
 
8 the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.
 
9 O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Proverbs 22,

1 A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.
 
2 Rich and poor have this in common: The LORD is the Maker of them all.
 
3 A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it.
 
4 Humility and the fear of the LORD bring wealth and honor and life.
 
5 In the paths of the wicked lie thorns and snares, but he who guards his soul stays far from them.
 
6 Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.
 
7 The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.
 
8 He who sows wickedness reaps trouble, and the rod of his fury will be destroyed.
 
9 A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor.
 
10 Drive out the mocker, and out goes strife; quarrels and insults are ended.
 
11 He who loves a pure heart and whose speech is gracious will have the king for his friend.
 
12 The eyes of the LORD keep watch over knowledge, but he frustrates the words of the unfaithful.
 
13 The sluggard says, "There is a lion outside!" or, "I will be murdered in the streets!"
 
14 The mouth of an adulteress is a deep pit; he who is under the LORD's wrath will fall into it.
 
15 Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him.
 
16 He who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth and he who gives gifts to the rich-both come to poverty.
 
17 Pay attention and listen to the sayings of the wise; apply your heart to what I teach,
 
18 for it is pleasing when you keep them in your heart and have all of them ready on your lips.
 
19 So that your trust may be in the LORD, I teach you today, even you.
 
20 Have I not written thirty sayings for you, sayings of counsel and knowledge,
 
21 teaching you true and reliable words, so that you can give sound answers to him who sent you?
 
22 Do not exploit the poor because they are poor and do not crush the needy in court,
 
23 for the LORD will take up their case and will plunder those who plunder them.
 
24 Do not make friends with a hot-tempered man, do not associate with one easily angered,
 
25 or you may learn his ways and get yourself ensnared.
 
26 Do not be a man who strikes hands in pledge or puts up security for debts;
 
27 if you lack the means to pay, your very bed will be snatched from under you.
 
28 Do not move an ancient boundary stone set up by your forefathers.
 
29 Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will serve before kings; he will not serve before obscure men.

1 Thessalonians 1

1 Paul, Silas and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace and peace to you.
 
2 We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers.
 
3 We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
 
4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you,
 
5 because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake.
 
6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.
 
7 And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.
 
8 The Lord's message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia-your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it,
 
9 for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,
 
10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead-Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.