Numbers 17, 18, Psalm 55, Isaiah 7, James 1

Numbers 17, 18,

1 The LORD said to Moses,
 
2 "Speak to the Israelites and get twelve staffs from them, one from the leader of each of their ancestral tribes. Write the name of each man on his staff.
 
3 On the staff of Levi write Aaron's name, for there must be one staff for the head of each ancestral tribe.
 
4 Place them in the Tent of Meeting in front of the Testimony, where I meet with you.
 
5 The staff belonging to the man I choose will sprout, and I will rid myself of this constant grumbling against you by the Israelites."
 
6 So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and their leaders gave him twelve staffs, one for the leader of each of their ancestral tribes, and Aaron's staff was among them.
 
7 Moses placed the staffs before the LORD in the Tent of the Testimony.
 
8 The next day Moses entered the Tent of the Testimony and saw that Aaron's staff, which represented the house of Levi, had not only sprouted but had budded, blossomed and produced almonds.
 
9 Then Moses brought out all the staffs from the LORD's presence to all the Israelites. They looked at them, and each man took his own staff.
 
10 The LORD said to Moses, "Put back Aaron's staff in front of the Testimony, to be kept as a sign to the rebellious. This will put an end to their grumbling against me, so that they will not die."
 
11 Moses did just as the LORD commanded him.
 
12 The Israelites said to Moses, "We will die! We are lost, we are all lost!
 
13 Anyone who even comes near the tabernacle of the LORD will die. Are we all going to die?"

1 The LORD said to Aaron, "You, your sons and your father's family are to bear the responsibility for offenses against the sanctuary, and you and your sons alone are to bear the responsibility for offenses against the priesthood.
 
2 Bring your fellow Levites from your ancestral tribe to join you and assist you when you and your sons minister before the Tent of the Testimony.
 
3 They are to be responsible to you and are to perform all the duties of the Tent, but they must not go near the furnishings of the sanctuary or the altar, or both they and you will die.
 
4 They are to join you and be responsible for the care of the Tent of Meeting-all the work at the Tent-and no one else may come near where you are.
 
5 "You are to be responsible for the care of the sanctuary and the altar, so that wrath will not fall on the Israelites again.
 
6 I myself have selected your fellow Levites from among the Israelites as a gift to you, dedicated to the LORD to do the work at the Tent of Meeting.
 
7 But only you and your sons may serve as priests in connection with everything at the altar and inside the curtain. I am giving you the service of the priesthood as a gift. Anyone else who comes near the sanctuary must be put to death."
 
8 Then the LORD said to Aaron, "I myself have put you in charge of the offerings presented to me; all the holy offerings the Israelites give me I give to you and your sons as your portion and regular share.
 
9 You are to have the part of the most holy offerings that is kept from the fire. From all the gifts they bring me as most holy offerings, whether grain or sin or guilt offerings, that part belongs to you and your sons.
 
10 Eat it as something most holy; every male shall eat it. You must regard it as holy.
 
11 "This also is yours: whatever is set aside from the gifts of all the wave offerings of the Israelites. I give this to you and your sons and daughters as your regular share. Everyone in your household who is ceremonially clean may eat it.
 
12 "I give you all the finest olive oil and all the finest new wine and grain they give the LORD as the firstfruits of their harvest.
 
13 All the land's firstfruits that they bring to the LORD will be yours. Everyone in your household who is ceremonially clean may eat it.
 
14 "Everything in Israel that is devoted to the LORD is yours.
 
15 The first offspring of every womb, both man and animal, that is offered to the LORD is yours. But you must redeem every firstborn son and every firstborn male of unclean animals.
 
16 When they are a month old, you must redeem them at the redemption price set at five shekels of silver, according to the sanctuary shekel, which weighs twenty gerahs.
 
17 "But you must not redeem the firstborn of an ox, a sheep or a goat; they are holy. Sprinkle their blood on the altar and burn their fat as an offering made by fire, an aroma pleasing to the LORD.
 
18 Their meat is to be yours, just as the breast of the wave offering and the right thigh are yours.
 
19 Whatever is set aside from the holy offerings the Israelites present to the LORD I give to you and your sons and daughters as your regular share. It is an everlasting covenant of salt before the LORD for both you and your offspring."
 
20 The LORD said to Aaron, "You will have no inheritance in their land, nor will you have any share among them; I am your share and your inheritance among the Israelites.
 
21 "I give to the Levites all the tithes in Israel as their inheritance in return for the work they do while serving at the Tent of Meeting.
 
22 From now on the Israelites must not go near the Tent of Meeting, or they will bear the consequences of their sin and will die.
 
23 It is the Levites who are to do the work at the Tent of Meeting and bear the responsibility for offenses against it. This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. They will receive no inheritance among the Israelites.
 
24 Instead, I give to the Levites as their inheritance the tithes that the Israelites present as an offering to the LORD. That is why I said concerning them: 'They will have no inheritance among the Israelites.' "
 
25 The LORD said to Moses,
 
26 "Speak to the Levites and say to them: 'When you receive from the Israelites the tithe I give you as your inheritance, you must present a tenth of that tithe as the LORD's offering.
 
27 Your offering will be reckoned to you as grain from the threshing floor or juice from the winepress.
 
28 In this way you also will present an offering to the LORD from all the tithes you receive from the Israelites. From these tithes you must give the LORD's portion to Aaron the priest.
 
29 You must present as the LORD's portion the best and holiest part of everything given to you.'
 
30 "Say to the Levites: 'When you present the best part, it will be reckoned to you as the product of the threshing floor or the winepress.
 
31 You and your households may eat the rest of it anywhere, for it is your wages for your work at the Tent of Meeting.
 
32 By presenting the best part of it you will not be guilty in this matter; then you will not defile the holy offerings of the Israelites, and you will not die.' "

Psalm 55,

1 Listen to my prayer, O God, do not ignore my plea;
 
2 hear me and answer me. My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught
 
3 at the voice of the enemy, at the stares of the wicked; for they bring down suffering upon me and revile me in their anger.
 
4 My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death assail me.
 
5 Fear and trembling have beset me; horror has overwhelmed me.
 
6 I said, "Oh, that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at rest-
 
7 I would flee far away and stay in the desert; Selah
 
8 I would hurry to my place of shelter, far from the tempest and storm."
 
9 Confuse the wicked, O Lord, confound their speech, for I see violence and strife in the city.
 
10 Day and night they prowl about on its walls; malice and abuse are within it.
 
11 Destructive forces are at work in the city; threats and lies never leave its streets.
 
12 If an enemy were insulting me, I could endure it; if a foe were raising himself against me, I could hide from him.
 
13 But it is you, a man like myself, my companion, my close friend,
 
14 with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship as we walked with the throng at the house of God.
 
15 Let death take my enemies by surprise; let them go down alive to the grave, for evil finds lodging among them.
 
16 But I call to God, and the LORD saves me.
 
17 Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice.
 
18 He ransoms me unharmed from the battle waged against me, even though many oppose me.
 
19 God, who is enthroned forever, will hear them and afflict them-Selah men who never change their ways and have no fear of God.
 
20 My companion attacks his friends; he violates his covenant.
 
21 His speech is smooth as butter, yet war is in his heart; his words are more soothing than oil, yet they are drawn swords.
 
22 Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall.
 
23 But you, O God, will bring down the wicked into the pit of corruption; bloodthirsty and deceitful men will not live out half their days. But as for me, I trust in you.
 

Isaiah 7,

1 When Ahaz son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, was king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel marched up to fight against Jerusalem, but they could not overpower it.
 
2 Now the house of David was told, "Aram has allied itself with Ephraim"; so the hearts of Ahaz and his people were shaken, as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind.
 
3 Then the LORD said to Isaiah, "Go out, you and your son Shear-Jashub, to meet Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Washerman's Field.
 
4 Say to him, 'Be careful, keep calm and don't be afraid. Do not lose heart because of these two smoldering stubs of firewood-because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and of the son of Remaliah.
 
5 Aram, Ephraim and Remaliah's son have plotted your ruin, saying,
 
6 "Let us invade Judah; let us tear it apart and divide it among ourselves, and make the son of Tabeel king over it."
 
7 Yet this is what the Sovereign LORD says: " 'It will not take place, it will not happen,
 
8 for the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is only Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people.
 
9 The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is only Remaliah's son. If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.' "
 
10 Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz,
 
11 "Ask the LORD your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights."
 
12 But Ahaz said, "I will not ask; I will not put the LORD to the test."
 
13 Then Isaiah said, "Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of men? Will you try the patience of my God also?
 
14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.
 
15 He will eat curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right.
 
16 But before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste.
 
17 The LORD will bring on you and on your people and on the house of your father a time unlike any since Ephraim broke away from Judah-he will bring the king of Assyria."
 
18 In that day the LORD will whistle for flies from the distant streams of Egypt and for bees from the land of Assyria.
 
19 They will all come and settle in the steep ravines and in the crevices in the rocks, on all the thornbushes and at all the water holes.
 
20 In that day the Lord will use a razor hired from beyond the River-the king of Assyria-to shave your head and the hair of your legs, and to take off your beards also.
 
21 In that day, a man will keep alive a young cow and two goats.
 
22 And because of the abundance of the milk they give, he will have curds to eat. All who remain in the land will eat curds and honey.
 
23 In that day, in every place where there were a thousand vines worth a thousand silver shekels, there will be only briers and thorns.
 
24 Men will go there with bow and arrow, for the land will be covered with briers and thorns.
 
25 As for all the hills once cultivated by the hoe, you will no longer go there for fear of the briers and thorns; they will become places where cattle are turned loose and where sheep run.

James 1

1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings.
 
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds,
 
3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.
 
4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
 
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
 
6 But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.
 
7 That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord;
 
8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.
 
9 The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position.
 
10 But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower.
 
11 For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich man will fade away even while he goes about his business.
 
12 Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.
 
13 When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone;
 
14 but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.
 
15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
 
16 Don't be deceived, my dear brothers.
 
17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
 
18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.
 
19 My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,
 
20 for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.
 
21 Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.
 
22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
 
23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror
 
24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.
 
25 But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it-he will be blessed in what he does.
 
26 If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.
 
27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.