The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Saturday March 11, 2017 (NIV)

¹⁷ The Lord said to Moses, ¹⁸ “Tell the ·Israelites [^Lsons/^Tchildren of Israel]: ‘You are going to another land, where I am taking you. ¹⁹ When you eat the food there, ·offer [elevate] part of it to the Lord. ²⁰ ·Offer [Elevate] a loaf of bread from the first of your ·grain [or dough], which will be your ·offering [elevation offering] from the threshing floor. ²¹ ·From now on [^LThroughout your generations] ·offer [elevate] to the Lord the first part of your ·grain [or dough].

²² “‘Now what if you ·forget [unintentionally fail] to ·obey [do] any of these commands the Lord gave Moses? ²³ These are the Lord’s commands given to you through Moses, which began the day the Lord ·gave them to [commanded] you and will continue ·from now on [^Lthroughout your generations]. ²⁴ If the ·people [community; congregation; assembly] ·forget [unintentionally fail] to ·obey [do] one of these commands, all the ·people [community; congregation; assembly] must offer a young bull as a burnt offering [Lev. 1:1–17], a smell pleasing to the Lord. By law you must also give the ·grain [^Lgift; tribute] offering [Lev. 2:1] and the drink offering with it, and you must bring a male goat as a ·sin [or purification; Lev. 4:3] offering.

²⁵ “‘The priest will ·remove that sin for all the Israelites so they will belong to the Lord [^Latone for all the community/congregation/assembly of the sons/^Tchildren of Israel]. They are forgiven, because they ·didn’t know they were sinning [sinned unintentionally]. For the unintentional wrong they did they brought offerings to the Lord, an offering by fire and a ·sin [or purification; Lev. 4:3] offering. ²⁶ So all of the ·people [community; congregation; assembly] of ·Israel [^Lthe sons/^Tchildren of Israel] and the ·foreigners [resident aliens] living among them will be forgiven. ·No one meant to do wrong [They were all involved in unintentional sin].

²⁷ “‘If just one person sins ·without meaning to [unintentionally], a year-old female goat must be brought for a ·sin [or purification; Lev. 4:3] offering. ²⁸ The priest will ·remove [atone for] the sin of the person who sinned ·accidentally [unintentionally]. He will ·remove it before the Lord [atone for him]; and the person will be forgiven. ²⁹ The same ·teaching [instruction; law] is for everyone who sins ·accidentally [unintentionally]—for those ·born Israelites [natives] and for ·foreigners [resident aliens] living among you.

³⁰ “‘But anyone who sins ·on purpose [^Lwith a high hand; ^Cknowingly] ·is against [insults] the Lord and must be cut off from the people, whether it is ·someone born among you [a native] or a ·foreigner [resident alien]. ³¹ That person has ·turned against [despised] the Lord’s word and has ·not obeyed [broken] his commands. Such a person must surely be cut off from the others. He is guilty.’”

A Man Worked on the Sabbath

³² When the ·Israelites [^Lsons/^Tchildren of Israel] were still in the ·desert [wilderness], they found a man gathering wood on the Sabbath day [Gen. 2:2–3; Ex. 20:8–11; 35:2; Deut. 5:13–15]. ³³ Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and all the people. ³⁴ They held the man under guard, because they did not know what to do with him. ³⁵ Then the Lord said to Moses, “The man must surely die. All the ·people [community; congregation; assembly] must kill him by ·throwing stones at [stoning] him outside the camp.” ³⁶ So all the ·people [community; congregation; assembly] took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the Lord commanded Moses.

The Tassels

³⁷ The Lord said to Moses, ³⁸ “Speak to the ·Israelites [^Lsons/^Tchildren of Israel] and tell them this: ‘·Tie several pieces of thread together and attach them to [Make fringes/tassels on] the corners of your clothes. Put a blue thread ·in each one of these tassels [^Lon the fringe/tassel of each corner]. Wear them ·from now on [^Lthroughout your generations]. ³⁹ You will have these ·tassels [fringes] to look at to remind you of all the Lord’s commands. Then you will obey them and not ·be disloyal by following what your bodies and eyes want [^Lfollow after your own heart or your own eyes to be unfaithful/play the harlot after them]. ⁴⁰ Then you will remember to obey all my commands, and you will be God’s holy people. ⁴¹ I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt to be your God [Ex. 12–15]. I am the Lord your God.’”

Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and On

16 Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and On turned against Moses. (Korah was the son of Izhar [26:9–11; 27:3; Ex. 6:21, 24], the son of Kohath, the son of Levi; Dathan and Abiram were brothers [Deut. 11:6; Ps. 106:17], the sons of Eliab; and On was the son of Peleth; Dathan, Abiram, and On were from the tribe of Reuben [Gen. 49:3–4].) ² These men gathered two hundred fifty other ·Israelite men [^Lmen of the sons/^Tchildren of Israel], ·well-known leaders [^Lmen of name/reputation] chosen by the ·community [congregation; assembly], and ·challenged [confronted] Moses. ³ They ·came as a group to speak to [^Lassembled against] Moses and Aaron and said, “You have gone too far. All the ·people [community; congregation; assembly] are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them [Ex. 19:6]. So why do you put yourselves above all the ·people [assembly; crowd] of the Lord?”

⁴ When Moses heard this, he ·bowed facedown [^Lfell on his face]. ⁵ Then he said to Korah and all his ·followers [community; congregation; assembly]: “Tomorrow morning the Lord will show who belongs to him. He will bring the one who is holy near to him; he will bring to himself the person he chooses. ⁶ So Korah, you and all your ·followers [community; congregation; assembly] do this: Get some ·pans for burning incense [censers; firepans]. ⁷ Tomorrow put fire and incense in them and take them before the Lord [Lev. 10:1–2]. He will choose the man who is holy. You ·Levites [^Lsons/descendants of Levi] have gone too far.”

⁸ Moses also said to Korah, “Listen, you ·Levites [^Lsons of Levi]. ⁹ The God of Israel has ·separated [divided] you from the rest of the ·Israelites [^Lcommunity/congregation/assembly of Israel]. He brought you near to himself to do the work in the Lord’s ·Holy Tent [Tabernacle] and to stand before all the ·Israelites [community; congregation; assembly] and ·serve [minister to] them [8:14; Ex. 32:29; Lev. 8–9; Deut. 33:8–11]. ·Isn’t that enough [^LIs it too little for you]? ¹⁰ He has brought you and all your ·fellow [brother] ·Levites [^Lsons of Levi] near to himself, yet now you ·want to be priests [^Lseek the priesthood]. ¹¹ You and your ·followers [community; congregation; assembly] have joined together against the Lord. ·Your complaint is not against Aaron [^LWho is Aaron that you complain/grumble against him?].”

¹² Then Moses called Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, but they said, “We will not come! ¹³ Is it too little that you have brought us out of a ·fertile land [^Lland flowing with milk and honey; ^CEgypt] to this ·desert [wilderness] to kill us? Now you want to ·order us around [lord it over us]. ¹⁴ You haven’t brought us into a ·fertile land [^Lland flowing with milk and honey; Ex. 3:8]; you haven’t given us ·any land [^Lan inheritance] with fields and vineyards. Will you put out the eyes of these men? No! We will not come!”

¹⁵ Then Moses became very angry and said to the Lord, “Don’t accept their ·gifts [tribute]. I have not taken anything from them, not even a donkey, and I have not done wrong to any of them.”

¹⁶ Then Moses said to Korah, “You and all your ·followers [community; congregation; assembly] must stand before the Lord tomorrow. And Aaron will stand there with you and them. ¹⁷ Each of you must take your ·pan [censer; firepan] and put incense in it; present these two hundred fifty ·pans [censers; firepans] before the Lord. You and Aaron must also present your ·pans [censers; firepans].” ¹⁸ So each man got his ·pan [censer; firepan] and put burning incense in it and stood with Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the Meeting Tent. ¹⁹ Korah ·gathered [assembled] all his ·followers [community; congregation; assembly] who were against Moses and Aaron, and they stood at the entrance to the Meeting Tent. Then the glory of the Lord [^Crepresenting God’s manifest presence, often in the form of fire and smoke] appeared to everyone.

²⁰ The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ²¹ “·Move away [Separate/Divide yourselves] from these men so I can destroy them quickly.”

²² But Moses and Aaron ·bowed facedown [^Lfell on their faces] and cried out, “God, you are the God ·over [of] the spirits of all ·people [flesh; 27:16; Gen 2:7]. Please don’t be angry with this whole ·group [community; congregation; assembly]. Only one man has really sinned.”

²³ Then the Lord said to Moses, ²⁴ “Tell ·everyone [the community/congregation/assembly] to ·move away from [^Lgo up from around] the ·tents [dwellings] of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”

²⁵ Moses stood and went to Dathan and Abiram; the elders of Israel followed him. ²⁶ Moses warned the people, “·Move away [Turn aside] from the tents of these evil men! Don’t touch anything of theirs, or you will be ·destroyed [swept away] because of their sins.” ²⁷ So they ·moved away [went up] from the ·tents [dwellings] of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram were standing outside their tents with their wives, children, and little babies.

²⁸ Then Moses said, “Now you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these things; it was not ·my idea [^Lfrom my heart/mind]. ²⁹ If these men die a normal death—·the way men usually die [if a normal fate comes on them]—then the Lord did not really send me. ³⁰ But if the Lord ·does [^Lcreates] something new, you will know they have ·insulted [despised] the Lord. The ground will open and swallow them. They will be buried alive and will go to ·the place of the dead [^LSheol; ^Cthe grave or the underworld], and everything that belongs to them will go with them.”

³¹ When Moses finished saying these things, the ground under the men split open. ³² The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and all their families. All Korah’s men and everything they owned went down. ³³ They were buried alive, going to ·the place of the dead [^LSheol ;^Cthe grave or the underworld], and everything they owned went with them. Then the earth covered them. They ·died and were gone [perished] from the ·community [assembly; crowd]. ³⁴ ·The people of [^LAll] Israel around them heard their screams and ran away, saying, “The earth will swallow us, too!”

³⁵ Then a fire came ·down [or out] from the Lord and ·destroyed [consumed] the two hundred fifty men who had presented the incense [Lev. 10:1–2].

³⁶ The Lord said to Moses, ³⁷ “Tell Eleazar son of Aaron, the priest, to take all the ·incense pans [censers; firepans] out of the ·fire [flames]. Have him scatter the ·coals [^Lfire] a long distance away. But the ·incense pans [censers; firepans] are still holy. ³⁸ Take the ·pans [censers; firepans] of these men who sinned and lost their lives, and hammer them into flat sheets that will be used to cover the altar. They are holy, because they were presented to the Lord, and they will be a sign to the ·Israelites [^Lsons/^Tchildren of Israel].”

³⁹ So Eleazar the priest gathered all the bronze ·pans [censers; firepans] that had been brought by the men who were burned up. He had the ·pans [censers; firepans] hammered into flat sheets to put on the altar, ⁴⁰ as the Lord had commanded him through Moses. These sheets were to remind the Israelites that only ·descendants [^Lthe seed] of Aaron should burn incense before the Lord. Anyone else would die like Korah and his ·followers [community; congregation; assembly].

Pilate Questions Jesus^(A)

15 Very early in the morning, the ·leading [^Tchief] priests, the elders, the ·teachers of the law [scribes], and all the ·Jewish council [Sanhedrin; see 14:55] decided what to do with Jesus. They ·tied [bound] him, led him away, and turned him over to Pilate, the governor.

² Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

Jesus answered, “·Those are your words [It is as you say; ^LYou say so; ^Can indirect affirmation].”

³ The ·leading [^Tchief] priests accused Jesus of many things. ⁴ So Pilate asked Jesus another question, “You can see that they are accusing you of many things. Aren’t you going to answer?”

⁵ But Jesus still said nothing, so Pilate was ·very surprised [amazed].

Pilate Tries to Free Jesus^(B)

⁶ Every year at the ·time of the Passover [festival/feast] the governor would free one prisoner whom the people ·chose [requested]. ⁷ At that time, there was a man named Barabbas in prison, one of a group of rebels who had committed murder during ·a riot [the uprising/insurrection]. ⁸ The crowd came to Pilate and began to ask him to free a prisoner as he always did.

⁹ So Pilate asked them, “Do you want me to free the king of the Jews?” ¹⁰ Pilate knew that the ·leading [^Tchief] priests had turned Jesus in to him because they were jealous. ¹¹ But the ·leading [^Tchief] priests had ·persuaded [stirred up] the people to ask Pilate to free Barabbas, not Jesus.

¹² Then Pilate asked the crowd again, “So what should I do with this man you call the king of the Jews?”

¹³ They shouted, “Crucify him!”

¹⁴ Pilate asked, “Why? What ·wrong [crime; evil] has he done?”

But they shouted even louder, “Crucify him!”

¹⁵ Pilate wanted to ·please [satisfy] the crowd, so he freed Barabbas for them. After having Jesus ·beaten with whips [flogged; scourged], he handed Jesus over to the soldiers to be crucified.

The Soldiers Mock Jesus^(C)

¹⁶ The soldiers took Jesus into the [courtyard of the] governor’s palace (called the Praetorium) and called ·all the other soldiers [the whole cohort] together [^Ca cohort was about 500 soldiers; here it may mean those of the cohort on duty]. ¹⁷ They put a purple robe [^Cprobably a scarlet military coat (Matt. 27:28), whose color resembled purple—the color of royalty] on Jesus and used thorny branches to make a crown for his head. ¹⁸ They began to ·call out to [greet; salute] him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” ¹⁹ The soldiers beat Jesus on the head many times with a stick. They spit on him and made fun of him by bowing on their knees and worshiping him. ²⁰ After they finished, the soldiers took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him again. Then they led him out of the palace to be crucified.

Jesus Is Crucified^(D)

²¹ A man named Simon from Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus [^Cprobably two Christians known to Mark’s readers], was coming from the ·fields [countryside] to the city. The soldiers forced Simon to carry the cross for Jesus. ²² They led Jesus to the place called Golgotha, which means [^Cin Aramaic] the Place of the Skull. ²³ ·The soldiers [^L They; ^Cthis could be the soldiers or the women of Jerusalem] tried to give Jesus wine mixed with myrrh to drink [^Ca narcotic meant to dull the pain; Prov. 31:6; Ps. 69:21], but he refused. ²⁴ The soldiers crucified Jesus and divided his clothes among themselves, throwing lots [^Csimilar to dice] to decide what each soldier would get [Ps. 22:18].

²⁵ It was ·nine o’clock in the morning [^Lthe third hour] when they crucified Jesus. ²⁶ There was a sign with this charge against Jesus written on it: the king of the jews. ²⁷ They also put two ·robbers [rebels; revolutionaries; ^Cthe term “robber” was used by the Romans of insurrectionists] on crosses beside Jesus, one on the right, and the other on the left. |²⁸ And the Scripture came true that says, “They put him with criminals [Is. 53:12].”|^{[a] 29} People walked by and ·insulted [defamed; slandered; ^Cthe same Greek word used to “blaspheme”] Jesus and shook their heads [^Ca gesture of derision; Ps. 22:7], saying, “You said you could destroy the Temple and build it again in three days. ³⁰ So save yourself! Come down from that cross!”

³¹ The ·leading [^Tchief] priests and the ·teachers of the law [scribes] were also making fun of Jesus. They said to each other, “He saved other people, but he can’t save himself. ³² If he is really the ·Christ [Messiah], the king of Israel, let him come down now from the cross. When we see this, we will believe in him.” The robbers who were being crucified beside Jesus also ·insulted [ridiculed; taunted] him.

Jesus Dies^(E)

³³ At ·noon [^Lthe sixth hour] the whole country became dark, and the darkness lasted ·for three hours [^Luntil the ninth hour]. ³⁴ At ·three o’clock [^Lthe ninth hour] Jesus cried in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani.” This means [^Cin Aramaic], “My God, my God, why have you ·abandoned [forsaken] me?” [Ps. 22:1]

³⁵ When some of the people standing there heard this, they said, “Listen! He is calling Elijah.” [^CThe prophet Elijah was associated with the end times (Mal. 4:5) and was also viewed as a helper in time of need.]

³⁶ Someone there ran and got a sponge, filled it with ·vinegar [or sour wine; ^Can inexpensive drink used by soldiers and slaves], tied it to a ·stick [reed], and gave it to Jesus to drink [Ps. 69:21]. He said, “[Leave him be; Wait!] We want to see if Elijah will come to take him down from the cross.”

³⁷ Then Jesus cried in a loud voice and ·died [breathed his last; ^Lexpired].

³⁸ The curtain [^Cdividing the Most Holy Place from the rest of the temple] in the Temple was torn into two pieces, from the top to the bottom [^Crepresenting new access to the presence of God, and perhaps God’s judgment against the Temple leadership]. ³⁹ When the ·army officer [centurion] who was standing in front of the cross saw ·what happened when [or how] Jesus died,^[b] he said, “This man really was the Son of God!”

⁴⁰ Some women were standing at a distance from the cross, watching; among them were Mary Magdalene, Salome, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph. (James was her youngest son.) ⁴¹ These women had followed Jesus in Galilee and ·helped [cared for; supported] him. Many other women were also there who had come with Jesus to Jerusalem.

Jesus Is Buried^(F)

⁴² This was Preparation Day. (That means the day before the Sabbath day.) That evening, ⁴³ Joseph from Arimathea was ·brave [bold] enough to go to Pilate and ask for Jesus’ body. Joseph, an ·important [respected] member of the ·Jewish council [Sanhedrin; see 14:55], was one of the people who was waiting for the kingdom of God to come. ⁴⁴ Pilate was amazed that Jesus would have already died, so he called the ·army officer [centurion] and asked him if Jesus ·had already died [or had been dead very long]. ⁴⁵ The officer told Pilate that he was dead, so Pilate told Joseph he could have the body. ⁴⁶ Joseph bought some linen cloth, took the body down from the cross, and wrapped it in the linen. He put the body in a tomb that was cut out of a wall of rock. Then he rolled a [^Clarge] stone to block the entrance of the tomb. ⁴⁷ And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph ·saw [took note of] the place where Jesus was laid.

A Prayer for Help

For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A ·maskil [skillful psalm; meditation] of David when the Ziphites went to Saul and said, “·We think David is [^LIs not David…?] hiding among ·our people [^Lus; 1 Sam. 23:13–29; 26:1].”