To The Word – Day 36

₁The LORD commanded Moses ₂to give the following instructions to the people of Israel. Any men or women who make a special vow to become Nazirites and dedicate themselves to the LORD ₃shall abstain from wine and beer. They shall not drink any kind of drink made from grapes or eat any grapes or raisins. ₄As long as they are Nazirites, they shall not eat anything that comes from a grapevine, not even the seeds or skins of grapes.

₅As long as they are under the Nazirite vow, they must not cut their hair or shave. They are bound by the vow for the full time that they are dedicated to the LORD, and they shall let their hair grow. _6-7Their hair is the sign of their dedication to God, and so they must not defile themselves by going near a corpse, not even that of their father, mother, brother, or sister. ₈As long as they are Nazirites, they are consecrated to the LORD.

₉If the consecrated hair of a Nazirite is defiled because he or she is right beside someone who suddenly dies, they must wait seven days and then shave off their hair; and so they become ritually clean. ₁₀On the eighth day they shall bring two doves or two pigeons to the priest at the entrance of the Tent of the LORD's presence. ₁₁The priest shall offer one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, to perform the ritual of purification for them because of their contact with a corpse. On the same day they shall reconsecrate their hair ₁₂and rededicate to the LORD their time as Nazirites. The previous period of time doesn't count, because their consecrated hair was defiled. As a repayment offering they shall bring a one-year-old lamb.

₁₃When Nazirites complete their vows, they shall perform this ritual. They shall go to the entrance of the Tent ₁₄and present to the LORD three animals without any defects: a one-year-old male lamb for a burnt offering, a one-year-old ewe lamb for a sin offering, and a ram for a fellowship offering. ₁₅They shall also offer a basket of bread made without yeast: thick loaves made of flour mixed with olive oil and biscuits brushed with olive oil, and in addition the required offerings of corn and wine.

₁₆The priest shall present all these to the LORD and offer the sin offering and the burnt offering. ₁₇He shall sacrifice the ram to the LORD as a fellowship offering, and offer it with the basket of bread; he shall also present the offerings of corn and wine. ₁₈At the entrance of the Tent the Nazirite shall shave off his or her hair and put it on the fire on which the fellowship offering is being burnt.

₁₉Then, when the shoulder of the ram is boiled, the priest shall take it and put it, together with one thick loaf of bread and one biscuit from the basket, into the hands of the Nazirite. ₂₀Next, the priest shall present them as a special gift to the LORD; they are a sacred offering for the priest, in addition to the breast and the leg of the ram which by law belong to the priest. After that, the Nazirite may drink wine.

₂₁These are the regulations for Nazirites; but if a Nazirite promises an offering beyond what his or her vow requires them to give, they must fulfil exactly the promise they made.

₂₂The LORD commanded Moses ₂₃to tell Aaron and his sons to use the following words in blessing the people of Israel:

₂₇And the LORD said, “If they pronounce my name as a blessing upon the people of Israel, I will bless them.”

₁On the day Moses finished setting up the Tent of the LORD's presence, he anointed and dedicated the Tent and all its equipment, and the altar and all its equipment. ₂Then the clan chiefs who were leaders in the tribes of Israel, the same men who were in charge of the census, ₃brought their offerings to the LORD: six wagons and twelve oxen, a wagon for every two leaders and an ox for each leader. After they had presented them, ₄the LORD said to Moses, ₅“Accept these gifts for use in the work to be done for the Tent; give them to the Levites according to the work they have to do.” ₆So Moses gave the wagons and the oxen to the Levites. ₇He gave two wagons and four oxen to the Gershonites, ₈and four wagons and eight oxen to the Merarites. All their work was to be done under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron. ₉But Moses gave no wagons or oxen to the Kohathites, because the sacred objects they took care of had to be carried on their shoulders.

₁₀The leaders also brought offerings to celebrate the dedication of the altar. When they were ready to present their gifts at the altar, ₁₁the LORD said to Moses, “Tell them that each day for a period of twelve days one of the leaders is to present his gifts for the dedication of the altar.”

_12-83They presented their offerings in the following order:

The offerings each one brought were identical: one silver bowl weighing 1.5 kilogrammes and one silver basin weighing 800 grammes, by the official standard, both of them full of flour mixed with oil for the grain offering; one gold dish weighing 110 grammes, full of incense; one young bull, one ram, and a one-year-old lamb, for the burnt offering; one goat for the sin offering; and two bulls, five rams, five goats, and five one-year-old lambs for the fellowship offering.

_84-88The totals of the offerings brought by the twelve leaders for the dedication of the altar were as follows:

₈₉When Moses went into the Tent to talk with the LORD, he heard the LORD speaking to him from above the lid on the Covenant Box, between the two winged creatures.

₁The LORD said to Moses, ₂“Tell Aaron that when he puts the seven lamps on the lampstand, he should place them so that the light shines towards the front.” ₃Aaron obeyed and placed the lamps facing the front of the lampstand. ₄From top to bottom the lampstand was made of hammered gold, according to the pattern that the LORD had shown Moses.

₅The LORD said to Moses, ₆“Separate the Levites from the rest of the people of Israel and purify them ₇in the following way: sprinkle them with the water of purification and tell them to shave their whole bodies and to wash their clothes. Then they will be ritually clean. ₈Then they are to take a young bull and the required grain offering of flour mixed with olive oil; and you are to take another bull for the sin offering. ₉Then assemble the whole community of Israel and make the Levites stand in front of the Tent of my presence. ₁₀The people of Israel are to place their hands on the heads of the Levites, ₁₁and then Aaron shall dedicate the Levites to me as a special gift from the Israelites, so that they may do my work. ₁₂The Levites shall then put their hands on the heads of the two bulls; one is to be offered as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, in order to perform the ritual of purification for the Levites.

₁₃“Dedicate the Levites as a special gift to me, and put Aaron and his sons in charge of them. ₁₄Separate the Levites in this way from the rest of the Israelites, so that they will belong to me. ₁₅After you have purified and dedicated the Levites, they will be qualified to work in the Tent. ₁₆I have claimed them in the place of all the firstborn sons of the Israelites, and they belong to me alone. ₁₇When I killed all the firstborn in Egypt, I consecrated as my own the eldest son of each Israelite family and the firstborn of every animal. ₁₈I am now taking the Levites instead of all the firstborn of the Israelites, ₁₉and I assign the Levites to Aaron and his sons, as a gift from the Israelites, to work in the Tent for the people of Israel and to protect the Israelites from the disaster that would strike them if they came too near the Holy Place.”

₂₀So Moses, Aaron, and all the people of Israel dedicated the Levites, as the LORD commanded Moses. ₂₁The Levites purified themselves and washed their clothes, and Aaron dedicated them as a special gift to the LORD. He also performed the ritual of purification for them. ₂₂The people did everything the LORD had commanded Moses concerning the Levites. And so the Levites were qualified to work in the Tent under Aaron and his sons.

₂₃The LORD said to Moses, ₂₄“From the age of 25 each Levite shall perform his duties in the Tent of my presence, ₂₅and at the age of fifty he shall retire. ₂₆After that, he may help his fellow-Levites in performing their duties in the Tent, but he must not perform any service by himself. This is how you are to regulate the duties of the Levites.”

₁The LORD spoke to Moses in the Sinai Desert in the first month of the second year after the people of Israel had left Egypt. He said, _2-3“On the fourteenth day of this month, beginning at sunset, the people of Israel are to observe the Passover according to all the rules and regulations for it.” ₄So Moses told the people to observe the Passover, ₅and on the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month they did so in the Sinai Desert. The people did everything just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

₆But there were some people who were ritually unclean because they had touched a corpse, and they were not able to keep the Passover on that day. They went to Moses and Aaron ₇and said, “We are unclean because we have touched a corpse, but why should we be excluded from presenting the LORD's offering with the rest of the Israelites?”

₈Moses answered, “Wait until I receive instructions from the LORD.”

₉The LORD told Moses ₁₀to say to the people of Israel, “When any of you or your descendants are unclean from touching a corpse or are far away on a journey, but still want to keep the Passover, ₁₁you are permitted to observe it one month later instead, on the evening of the fourteenth day of the second month. Celebrate it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. ₁₂Do not leave any of the food until the following morning and do not break any of the animal's bones. Observe the Passover according to all the regulations. ₁₃But anyone who is ritually clean and not away on a journey and who does not observe the Passover, shall no longer be considered one of my people, because he did not present the offering to me at the appointed time. He must suffer the consequences of his sin.

₁₄“If foreigners living among you want to keep the Passover, they must observe it according to all the rules and regulations. The same law applies to everyone, whether native or foreigner.”

_15-16On the day the Tent of the Lord's presence was set up, a cloud came and covered it. At night the cloud looked like fire. ₁₇Whenever the cloud lifted, the people of Israel broke camp, and they set up camp again in the place where the cloud came down. ₁₈The people broke camp at the command of the LORD, and at his command they set up camp. As long as the cloud stayed over the Tent, they stayed in the same camp. ₁₉When the cloud stayed over the Tent for a long time, they obeyed the LORD and did not move on. ₂₀Sometimes the cloud remained over the Tent for only a few days; in any case, they remained in camp or moved, according to the command of the LORD. ₂₁Sometimes the cloud remained only from evening until morning, and they moved on as soon as the cloud lifted. Whenever the cloud lifted, they moved on. ₂₂Whether it was two days, a month, a year, or longer, as long as the cloud remained over the Tent, they did not move on; but when it lifted, they moved. ₂₃They set up camp and broke camp in obedience to the commands which the LORD gave through Moses.

₁The LORD said to Moses, ₂“Make two trumpets of hammered silver to use for calling the people together and for breaking camp. ₃When long blasts are sounded on both trumpets, the whole community is to gather round you at the entrance to the Tent of my presence. ₄But when only one trumpet is sounded, then only the leaders of the clans are to gather round you. ₅When short blasts are sounded, the tribes camped on the east will move out. ₆When short blasts are sounded a second time, the tribes on the south will move out. So short blasts are to be sounded to break camp, ₇but in order to call the community together, long blasts are to be sounded. ₈The trumpets are to be blown by Aaron's sons, the priests.

“The following rule is to be observed for all time to come. ₉When you are at war in your land, defending yourselves against an enemy who has attacked you, sound the signal for battle on these trumpets. I, the LORD your God, will help you and save you from your enemies. ₁₀Also on joyful occasions — at your New Moon Festivals and your other religious festivals — you are to blow the trumpets when you present your burnt offerings and your fellowship offerings. Then I will help you. I am the LORD your God.”

₁₁On the twentieth day of the second month in the second year after the people left Egypt, the cloud over the Tent of the LORD's presence lifted, ₁₂and the Israelites started on their journey out of the Sinai Desert. The cloud came to rest in the wilderness of Paran.

₁₃They began to march at the command of the LORD through Moses, ₁₄and each time they moved, they were in the same order. Those under the banner of the division led by the tribe of Judah started out first, company by company, with Nahshon son of Amminadab in command. ₁₅Nethanel son of Zuar was in command of the tribe of Issachar, ₁₆and Eliab son of Helon was in command of the tribe of Zebulun.

₁₇Then the Tent would be taken down, and the clans of Gershon and Merari, who carried it, would start out.

₁₈Next, those under the banner of the division led by the tribe of Reuben would start out, company by company, with Elizur son of Shedeur in command. ₁₉Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai was in command of the tribe of Simeon, ₂₀and Eliasaph son of Deuel was in command of the tribe of Gad.

₂₁Then the Levite clan of Kohath would start out, carrying the sacred objects. By the time they arrived at the next camp, the Tent had been set up again.

₂₂Next, those under the banner of the division led by the tribe of Ephraim would start out, company by company, with Elishama son of Ammihud in command. ₂₃Gamaliel son of Pedahzur was in command of the tribe of Manasseh, ₂₄and Abidan son of Gideoni was in command of the tribe of Benjamin.

₂₅Finally, those under the banner of the division led by the tribe of Dan, serving as the rearguard of all the divisions, would start out, company by company, with Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai in command. ₂₆Pagiel son of Ochran was in command of the tribe of Asher, ₂₇and Ahira son of Enan was in command of the tribe of Naphtali. ₂₈This, then, was the order of march, company by company, whenever the Israelites broke camp and set out.

₂₉Moses said to his brother-in-law Hobab son of Jethro the Midianite, “We are about to start out for the place which the LORD said he would give us. He has promised to make Israel prosperous, so come with us, and we will share our prosperity with you.”

₃₀Hobab answered, “No, I am going back to my native land.”

₃₁“Please don't leave us,” Moses said. “You know where we can camp in the wilderness, and you can be our guide. ₃₂If you come with us, we will share with you all the blessings that the LORD gives us.”

₃₃When the people left Sinai, the holy mountain, they travelled for three days. The LORD's Covenant Box always went ahead of them to find a place for them to camp. ₃₄As they moved on from each camp, the cloud of the LORD was over them by day.

₃₅Whenever the Covenant Box started out, Moses would say, “Arise, LORD; scatter your enemies and put to flight those who hate you!” ₃₆And whenever it stopped, he would say, “Return, LORD, to the thousands of families of Israel.”

₁From Jude, servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James —

To those who have been called by God, who live in the love of God the Father and the protection of Jesus Christ:

₂May mercy, peace, and love be yours in full measure.

₃My dear friends, I was doing my best to write to you about the salvation we share in common, when I felt the need of writing at once to encourage you to fight on for the faith which once and for all God has given to his people. ₄For some godless people have slipped in unnoticed among us, persons who distort the message about the grace of our God in order to excuse their immoral ways, and who reject Jesus Christ, our only Master and Lord. Long ago the Scriptures predicted the condemnation they have received.

₅For even though you know all this, I want to remind you of how the Lord once rescued the people of Israel from Egypt, but afterwards destroyed those who did not believe. ₆Remember the angels who did not stay within the limits of their proper authority, but abandoned their own dwelling place: they are bound with eternal chains in the darkness below, where God is keeping them for that great Day on which they will be condemned. ₇Remember Sodom and Gomorrah, and the nearby towns, whose people acted as those angels did and indulged in sexual immorality and perversion: they suffer the punishment of eternal fire as a plain warning to all.

₈In the same way also, these people have visions which make them sin against their own bodies; they despise God's authority and insult the glorious beings above. ₉Not even the chief angel Michael did this. In his quarrel with the Devil, when they argued about who would have the body of Moses, Michael did not dare to condemn the Devil with insulting words, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” ₁₀But these people attack with insults anything they do not understand; and those things that they know by instinct, like wild animals, are the very things that destroy them. ₁₁How terrible for them! They have followed the way that Cain took. For the sake of money they have given themselves over to the error that Balaam committed. They have rebelled as Korah rebelled, and like him they are destroyed. ₁₂With their shameless carousing they are like dirty spots in your fellowship meals. They take care only of themselves. They are like clouds carried along by the wind, but bringing no rain. They are like trees that bear no fruit, even in autumn, trees that have been pulled up by the roots and are completely dead. ₁₃They are like wild waves of the sea, with their shameful deeds showing up like foam. They are like wandering stars, for whom God has reserved a place for ever in the deepest darkness.

₁₄It was Enoch, the seventh direct descendant from Adam, who long ago prophesied this about them: “The Lord will come with many thousands of his holy angels ₁₅to bring judgement on all, to condemn them all for the godless deeds they have performed and for all the terrible words that godless sinners have spoken against him!”

₁₆These people are always grumbling and blaming others; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others in order to get their own way.

₁₇But remember, my friends, what you were told in the past by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. ₁₈They said to you, “When the last days come, people will appear who will mock you, people who follow their own godless desires.” ₁₉These are the people who cause divisions, who are controlled by their natural desires, who do not have the Spirit. ₂₀But you, my friends, keep on building yourselves up on your most sacred faith. Pray in the power of the Holy Spirit, ₂₁and keep yourselves in the love of God, as you wait for our Lord Jesus Christ in his mercy to give you eternal life.

₂₂Show mercy towards those who have doubts; ₂₃save others by snatching them out of the fire; and to others show mercy mixed with fear, but hate their very clothes, stained by their sinful lusts.

₂₄To him who is able to keep you from falling, and to bring you faultless and joyful before his glorious presence — ₂₅to the only God our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, might, and authority, from all ages past, and now, and for ever and ever! Amen.