Numbers 5 - 6, Acts 24 - 25, Psalm 90

Unclean Sent Outside the Camp

5Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ²“Command the sons of Israel that they ^asend away from the camp every leper and everyone having a ^bdischarge and everyone who is ¹^,^cunclean because of a dead person. ³“You shall send away both male and female; you shall send them outside the camp so that they will not defile their camp where I dwell ^ain their midst.” ⁴And the sons of Israel did so and sent them outside the camp; just as Yahweh had spoken to Moses, thus the sons of Israel did.

Restitution for Sins

⁵Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ⁶“Speak to the sons of Israel, ‘^aWhen a man or woman commits any of the sins of mankind, acting unfaithfully against Yahweh, and that person is guilty, ⁷then ¹he shall ^aconfess ²his sins which ³he has committed, and he ^bshall make restitution in full for his wrong and add to it one-fifth of it and give it to him whom he has ⁴wronged. ⁸‘But if the man has no kinsman redeemer to whom restitution may be made for the wrong, the restitution which is made for the wrong must go to Yahweh for the priest, besides the ram of atonement, by which atonement is made for him. ⁹‘^aAlso every ¹contribution pertaining to all the holy gifts of the sons of Israel, which they bring near to the priest, shall be his. ¹⁰‘So every man’s holy gifts shall be his; whatever any man gives to the priest, it ^abecomes his.’”

The Statutes of Jealousy

¹¹Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ¹²“Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘If any man’s wife ^agoes astray and is unfaithful to him, ¹³and a man lies ^asexually with her, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband, and she is ¹undetected; but she has defiled herself, and there is no witness against her, and she has not been caught in the act, ¹⁴¹if a spirit of ^ajealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife and she has defiled herself, or if a spirit of jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife but she has not defiled herself, ¹⁵the man shall then bring his wife to the priest and shall bring as ¹an offering for her one-tenth of an ²ephah of barley meal; he shall not pour oil on it nor put frankincense on it, for it is a grain offering of jealousy, a grain offering of remembrance, ^aa reminder of iniquity.

¹⁶‘Then the priest shall bring her near and have her stand before Yahweh, ¹⁷and the priest shall take holy water in an earthenware vessel; and the priest shall take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water. ¹⁸‘The priest shall then have the woman stand before Yahweh and let the hair of the woman’s head go loose, and he shall place the grain offering of remembrance ¹in her hands, which is the grain offering of jealousy; and in the hand of the priest is to be the water of bitterness that brings curses. ¹⁹‘Then the priest shall have her swear an oath and shall say to the woman, “If no man has lain with you, and if you have not ^agone astray into ¹defilement, being under the authority of your husband, be free from this water of bitterness that brings curses; ²⁰if you, however, have ^agone astray, being under the authority of your husband, and if you have defiled yourself, and a man other than your husband has lain with you” ²¹(then the priest shall have the woman ^aswear with the oath of the curse, and the priest shall say to the woman), “Yahweh make you a curse and an oath among your people by Yahweh making your thigh fall away and your abdomen swell; ²²and this water that brings curses shall go into your ¹stomach and make your abdomen swell and your thigh fall away.” And the woman ^ashall say, “Amen. Amen.”

²³‘The priest shall then write these curses on a scroll, and he shall ¹wash them off into the water of bitterness. ²⁴‘Then he shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that brings curses, so that the water which brings a curse will go into her to cause bitterness. ²⁵‘And the priest shall take the grain offering of jealousy from the woman’s hand, and he shall wave the grain offering before Yahweh and bring it near to the altar; ²⁶and ^athe priest shall take a handful of the grain offering as its memorial offering and offer it up in smoke on the altar, and afterward he shall make the woman drink the water. ²⁷‘So he will have her drink the water, and it will be that, if she has defiled herself and has been unfaithful to her husband, that the water which brings curses will go into her to cause bitterness, and her abdomen will swell and her thigh will fall away, and the woman will become ^aa curse among her people. ²⁸‘But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, she will then be free and conceive a seed.

²⁹‘This is the law of jealousy: when a wife, being under the authority of her husband, ^agoes astray and defiles herself, ³⁰or when a spirit of jealousy comes over a man and he is jealous of his wife, he shall then make the woman stand before Yahweh, and the priest shall apply all this law to her. ³¹‘Moreover, the man will be free from ¹guilt, but that woman shall ^abear her ²guilt.’”

The Nazirite Vow

6Again Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ²“Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When a man or woman makes a ¹special vow, the vow of ^aa ²Nazirite, to dedicate himself as a Nazirite to Yahweh, ³he shall ^aabstain as a Nazirite from wine and strong drink; he shall drink no vinegar, whether made from wine or strong drink, nor shall he drink any grape juice nor eat fresh or dried grapes. ⁴‘All the days of his ¹Nazirite vow he shall not eat anything that is produced by the grape vine, from the seeds even to the skin.

⁵‘All the days of his vow as a Nazirite ^ano razor shall pass over his head. He shall be holy until the days are fulfilled for which he dedicated himself as a Nazirite to Yahweh; he shall let the locks of hair on his head grow long.

⁶‘^aAll the days of his dedication as a Nazirite to Yahweh he shall not go near to a dead person. ⁷‘He ^ashall not defile himself for his father or for his mother, for his brother or for his sister, when they die, because the Nazirite vow to his God is on his head. ⁸‘All the days of his Nazirite vow he is holy to Yahweh.

⁹‘But if a man dies very suddenly beside him and he defiles the head of hair during his Nazirite vow, then ^ahe shall shave his head on the day when he becomes clean; ^bhe shall shave it on the seventh day. ¹⁰‘Then on the eighth day he shall bring ^atwo turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest, to the doorway of the tent of meeting. ¹¹‘And the priest shall offer ^aone for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering and make atonement for him ¹concerning his sin because of the dead person. And that same day he shall set apart his head as holy, ¹²and shall dedicate to Yahweh the days of his ¹Nazirite vow and shall bring a male lamb a year old for a guilt offering; but the former days will be void because his Nazirite vow was defiled.

¹³‘Now this is the law of the Nazirite ^awhen the days of his Nazirite vow are fulfilled: he shall bring ¹the offering to the doorway of the tent of meeting. ¹⁴‘And he shall bring his offering near to Yahweh: one male lamb a year old without blemish for a burnt offering and one ^aewe-lamb a year old without blemish for a sin offering and one ram without blemish for a peace offering, ¹⁵and a basket of ^aunleavened cakes of fine flour mixed with oil and unleavened wafers spread with oil, along with ^btheir grain offering and their drink offering. ¹⁶‘Then the priest shall bring them near before Yahweh and shall offer his sin offering and his burnt offering. ¹⁷‘He shall also offer with the ram a sacrifice of peace offerings to Yahweh, together with the basket of unleavened cakes; the priest shall likewise offer its grain offering and its drink offering. ¹⁸‘^aThe Nazirite shall then shave the head of hair for his Nazirite vow at the doorway of the tent of meeting and take the hair of his head of his Nazirite vow and put it on the fire which is under the sacrifice of peace offerings. ¹⁹‘^aAnd the priest shall take the ram’s shoulder when it has been boiled, and one unleavened cake out of the basket and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them on the ¹hands of the Nazirite after he has shaved the hair of his Nazirite vow. ²⁰‘Then the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before Yahweh. It is holy for the priest, together with the breast offered by waving and the thigh offered by ¹raising up; and ^aafterward the Nazirite may drink wine.’

²¹“This is the law of the Nazirite who vows his offering to Yahweh according to his Nazirite vow, in addition to what else ¹he can afford; according to his vow which he takes, so he shall do according to the law of his Nazirite vow.”

Yahweh Blesses the Sons of Israel

²²Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ²³“Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, ‘Thus ^ayou shall bless the sons of Israel. You shall say to them:

²⁴Yahweh ^abless you, and ^bkeep you;²⁵Yahweh ^amake His face shine on you,And ^bbe gracious to you;²⁶Yahweh ^alift up His ¹face on you,And ^bgive you peace.’

²⁷“So they shall ¹^,^ainvoke My name on the sons of Israel, and I then will bless them.”

Paul’s Trial Before Felix the Governor

24Now after ^afive days the high priest ^bAnanias came down with some elders, ¹with an ²attorney named Tertullus, and they ³brought charges to ^cthe governor against Paul. ²And after Paul had been summoned, Tertullus began to accuse him, saying, “As we have attained much peace through you—and because by your provision reforms are being carried out for this nation— ³we welcome this in every way and everywhere, ^amost excellent Felix, with all thankfulness. ⁴“But, that I may not weary you any further, I plead with you by your forbearance to hear us briefly. ⁵“For we have found this man a real pest and a fellow who stirs up dissension among all the Jews throughout ¹the world, and a ringleader of the ^asect of the Nazarenes. ⁶“And he even tried to ^adesecrate the temple; and ¹then we arrested him. ²[We wanted to judge him according to our own Law. ⁷“But Lysias the commander came along, and with much violence took him out of our hands, ⁸ordering his accusers to come before you.] By examining him yourself concerning all these matters you will be able to ascertain the things of which we accuse him.” ⁹^aAnd the Jews also joined in the attack, asserting that these things were so.

¹⁰And when ^athe governor had nodded for him to speak, Paul answered: “Knowing that for many years you have been a judge to this nation, I cheerfully make my defense, ¹¹since you are able to ascertain the fact that no more than ^atwelve days ago I went up to Jerusalem to worship. ¹²“^aAnd neither in the temple, nor in the synagogues, nor across the city did they find me carrying on a discussion with anyone or ^bcausing ¹a riot. ¹³“^aNor are they able to prove to you of what they are now accusing me. ¹⁴“But this I confess to you, that according to ^athe Way, which they call a ^bsect, I do serve ¹^,^cthe God of our fathers, ^dbelieving everything that is in accordance with the Law and that is written in the Prophets; ¹⁵having a hope in God, for which ^athese men are waiting, that there shall certainly be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous. ¹⁶“In view of this, ^aI also ¹do my best to maintain always a conscience without fault both before God and before men. ¹⁷“Now ^aafter several years I ^bcame to bring ¹alms to my nation and offerings; ¹⁸in which they found me, having been ^apurified in the temple, without any ^bcrowd or uproar. But there were some ^cJews from ¹Asia— ¹⁹who ought to have been present before you and to ^amake accusation, if they should have anything against me. ²⁰“Or else let these men themselves tell what wrongdoing they found when I stood before ^athe Sanhedrin, ²¹other than for this one statement which ^aI shouted out while standing among them, ‘For the resurrection of the dead I am on trial before you today.’”

²²But Felix, having a more accurate knowledge about ^athe Way, put them off, saying, “When Lysias the ¹commander comes down, I will decide your case.” ²³Then he gave orders to the centurion for him to be ^akept in custody and yet ^bhave some rest, and not to prevent any of ^chis friends from ministering to him.

²⁴But some days later Felix arrived with Drusilla, his ¹wife who was a Jewess, and summoned Paul and heard him speak about ^afaith in Christ Jesus. ²⁵But as he was discussing ^arighteousness, ^bself-control, and ^cthe judgment to come, Felix became frightened and answered, “Go away for the present, and when I find time I will call for you.” ²⁶At the same time, he was also hoping that ^amoney would be given him by Paul; therefore he also used to summon for him quite often and converse with him. ²⁷But after two years had passed, Felix ¹was succeeded by Porcius ^aFestus, and ^bwishing to do the Jews a favor, Felix left Paul ^cimprisoned.

Paul Before Festus

25Festus then, having arrived in ^athe province, after three days went up to Jerusalem from ^bCaesarea. ²And the chief priests and the leading men of the Jews ^abrought charges against Paul, and they were pleading with him, ³requesting a favor against ¹Paul, that he might ²have him brought to Jerusalem (while they ^aset an ambush to kill him on the way). ⁴Festus then ^aanswered that Paul ^bwas being kept in custody at ^cCaesarea and that he himself was about to leave shortly. ⁵“Therefore,” he *said, “let the influential men among you go down there with me, and if there is anything wrong ¹about the man, let them accuse him.”

⁶And after he had spent not more than eight or ten days among them, he went down to ^aCaesarea, and on the next day he took his seat on ^bthe judgment seat and ordered Paul to be brought. ⁷And after Paul arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing ^amany and serious charges against him ^bwhich they could not prove, ⁸while Paul said in his own defense, “^aI have committed no sin either against the Law of the Jews or against the temple or against Caesar.” ⁹But Festus, ^awishing to do the Jews a favor, answered Paul and said, “^bAre you willing to go up to Jerusalem and to be tried before me on these matters?” ¹⁰But Paul said, “I am standing before Caesar’s ^ajudgment seat, where I ought to be tried. I have done no wrong to the Jews, as you also very well know. ¹¹“If, then, I am a wrongdoer and have committed anything worthy of death, I do not refuse to die; but if none of those things is true of which these men accuse me, no one can hand me over to them. I ^aappeal to Caesar.” ¹²Then when Festus had conferred with ¹his council, he answered, “You have appealed to Caesar, to Caesar you shall go.”

Festus and Agrippa Discuss Paul’s Trial

¹³Now when several days had passed, King Agrippa and Bernice arrived at ^aCaesarea ¹and greeted Festus. ¹⁴And while they were spending many days there, Festus laid Paul’s case before the king, saying, “There is a man who was ^aleft as a prisoner by Felix; ¹⁵and when I was at Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews ^abrought charges against him, asking for a sentence of condemnation against him. ¹⁶“I ^aanswered them that it is not the custom of the Romans to hand over any man before ^bthe accused meets his accusers face to face and has an opportunity to make his defense against the charges. ¹⁷“So after they had assembled here, I did not delay, but on the next day took my seat on ^athe judgment seat and ordered the man to be brought before me. ¹⁸“When the accusers stood up, they were not bringing any charges against him for the evil deeds I was expecting, ¹⁹but they had some ^apoints of disagreement with him about their own ¹^,^breligion and about a certain Jesus, a dead man whom Paul asserted to be alive. ²⁰“^aAnd being perplexed about how to investigate ¹such matters, I was asking whether he was willing to go to Jerusalem and there to be tried on these matters. ²¹“But when Paul ^aappealed to be held in custody for ¹the Emperor’s decision, I ordered him to be kept in custody until I send him to Caesar.” ²²Then ^aAgrippa said to Festus, “I also would like to hear the man myself.” “Tomorrow,” he *said, “you shall hear him.”

Paul Before Agrippa and Bernice

²³So, on the next day when ^aAgrippa came ¹together with ^bBernice amid great pomp, and entered the hall ²accompanied by the ³commanders and the prominent men of the city, at the order of Festus, Paul was brought in. ²⁴And Festus *said, “King Agrippa, and all you gentlemen here present with us, you see this man about whom ^aall the people of the Jews appealed to me, both at Jerusalem and here, loudly declaring that ^bhe ought not to live any longer. ²⁵“But I found that he had committed ^anothing worthy of death, and since he himself ^bappealed to ¹the Emperor, I decided to send him. ²⁶“¹Yet I have nothing definite about him to write to my lord. Therefore I have brought him before you all and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that after the investigation has taken place, I may have something to write. ²⁷“For it seems absurd to me in sending a prisoner, not to indicate also the charges against him.”

BOOK 4

From Everlasting to Everlasting, You Are God

A Prayer of ¹Moses, the man of God.

Lord, You have been our ²^,^adwelling place from generation to generation.²Before ^athe mountains were born¹Or You ^bbrought forth the earth and the world,Even ^cfrom everlasting to everlasting, You are God.³You ^aturn man back into dustAnd say, “Return, O sons of men.”⁴For ^aa thousand years in Your sightAre like ^byesterday when it passes by,¹Or as a ^cwatch in the night.⁵You ^ahave ¹swept them away like a flood, they ²^,^bfall asleep;In the morning they are like ^cgrass which ³sprouts anew.⁶In the morning it ^ablossoms and ¹sprouts anew;Toward evening it ^bwithers away and ^cdries up.⁷For we have been ^aconsumed by Your angerAnd by Your wrath we have been ¹dismayed.⁸You have ^aset our iniquities before You,Our ^bsecret sins in the light of Your presence.⁹For ^aall our days have declined in Your fury;We have finished our years like a ¹sigh.¹⁰As for the days of our ¹life, ²they contain seventy years,Or if due to might, ^aeighty years,Yet their pride is but ^blabor and wickedness;For soon it is gone and we ^cfly away.¹¹Who knows the ^apower of Your angerAnd Your fury, according to the ^bfear ¹that is due You?¹²¹So ^ateach us to number our days,That we may ²^,^bpresent to You a heart of wisdom.¹³^aReturn, O Yahweh; ^bhow long will it be?And ¹be ^csorry for Your slaves.¹⁴O ^asatisfy us in the morning with Your lovingkindness,That we may ^bsing for joy and be glad all our days.¹⁵^aMake us glad ¹according to the days You have afflicted us,And the ^byears we have seen ²evil.¹⁶Let Your ^awork appear to Your slavesAnd Your ^bmajesty ¹to their sons.¹⁷Let the ^afavor of the Lord our God be upon us;And ^bestablish for us the work of our hands;Establish the work of our hands.