The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Friday March 2, 2018 (NIV)

Leviticus 25:47-27:13

47 If a sojourner or foreigner becomes rich by you, and your brother who dwells beside him becomes poor and sells himself to the foreigner or sojourner with you, or to a member of the stranger’s family, 48 then after he is sold he may be redeemed again. One of his brothers may redeem him, 49 or either his uncle or his cousin may redeem him, or any who is near of kin to him of his family may redeem him. Or if he is able, he may redeem himself. 50 He shall calculate with him who bought him from the year that he was sold to the Year of Jubilee, and the price of his sale shall be according to the number of years, according to the time of a hired servant. 51 If there are still many years left until the Jubilee, he shall pay the price proportionately for his redemption as some of the price that he was bought for. 52 If there remain but a few years until the Year of Jubilee, then he shall calculate and pay the price proportionately for his redemption according to his years of service. 53 As a yearly hired servant he shall be treated, and the other shall not rule harshly over him in your sight.

54 If he is not redeemed in these years, then he shall go out in the Year of Jubilee, both he and his children with him. 55 For to Me the children of Israel are servants. They are My servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

Rewards for Obedience

26 You shall not make for yourselves idols; neither set up a carved image nor a standing stone, nor shall you set up any sculpted stone in your land to bow down to it, for I am the Lord your God.

You shall keep My Sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary: I am the Lord.

If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments and do them, then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. Your threshing shall last till the grape harvest, and the grape harvest shall last till the time for sowing, and you shall eat your bread till you are full and dwell in your land safely.

I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down for sleep, and none shall make you afraid; I will remove harmful beasts from the land, and the sword shall not go through your land. You shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight, and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.

I will turn toward you and make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will confirm My covenant with you. 10 You shall eat the old harvest long stored, and clear out the old to make way for the new. 11 I will set My tabernacle among you, and I shall not abhor you. 12 I will walk among you, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. 13 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves, and I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk upright.

Punishment for Disobedience

14 But if you will not listen to Me, and will not do all these commandments, 15 if you despise My statutes, or if you abhor My judgments, so that you will not do all My commandments, but you break My covenant, 16 then I will do this to you: I will visit you with terror, with wasting disease, and with a fever that shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart, and you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. 17 I will set My face against you, and you shall be slain before your enemies. They that hate you shall reign over you, and you shall flee when none pursues you.

18 If you will not yet listen to Me after all this, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. 19 I will break the pride of your power, and I will make your heaven as iron and your land as bronze. 20 Your strength shall be spent in vain, for your land shall not yield her increase, nor shall the trees of the land yield their fruits.

21 If you continue to walk contrary to Me and will not listen to Me, I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins. 22 I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and make you few in number. And your roads shall be desolate.

23 And if by these things you are not turned to Me, but walk contrary to Me, 24 then I will also walk contrary to you and will punish you yet seven times for your sins. 25 I will bring a sword upon you that shall extract vengeance for My covenant. And when you are gathered together within your cities, I will send pestilence among you, and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy. 26 When I have broken the supply of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall ration your bread again by weight, and you shall eat and not be satisfied.

27 If you will not listen to Me for all this, but walk contrary to Me, 28 then I will walk contrary to you also in fury, and I Myself will chastise you seven times for your sins. 29 You shall eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters. 30 I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your funeral offerings on the lifeless forms of your idols, and I shall abhor you. 31 I will make your cities a waste and bring your sanctuaries to desolation, and I will not smell the savor of your fragrant offerings. 32 I will bring the land into desolation, and your enemies that dwell there shall be astonished at it. 33 I will scatter you among the nations and I will draw out a sword after you. And your land shall be desolate and your cities a waste. 34 Then the land shall enjoy its sabbaths as long as it lies desolate, while you are in your enemies’ land; then the land shall rest and enjoy its sabbaths. 35 As long as it lies desolate it shall rest because it did not rest during your sabbaths when you lived upon it.

36 And on those who are left alive of you I will send faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; and the sound of a shaken leaf shall make them flee, and they shall flee as from a sword, and they shall fall when no one pursues. 37 They shall fall one upon one another, as to escape before the sword, though no one pursues, and you shall have no power to stand before your enemies. 38 You shall perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall consume you. 39 And those who are left of you shall rot away in their iniquity in your enemies’ lands, and also because of the iniquities of their fathers, they shall rot away with them.

40 But if they confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their treachery that they committed against Me, and also that they have walked contrary to Me, 41 and that I also have walked contrary to them and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts are humbled, and they then accept the punishment of their iniquity, 42 then will I remember My covenant with Jacob, and also My covenant with Isaac, and also My covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. 43 But the land shall be abandoned by them, and enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them. They shall make amends for their iniquity, because they despised My judgments and because they abhorred My statutes. 44 Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, nor will I abhor them to destroy them utterly and to break My covenant with them, for I am the Lord their God. 45 But for their sake I will remember the covenant with their fathers, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I am the Lord.

46 These are the statutes and judgments and laws that the Lord made between Himself and the children of Israel on Mount Sinai by the hand of Moses.

Laws About Vows

27 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: When a man makes a special vow to the Lord based on the equivalent value[a] of persons, then the equivalent value of a male from twenty to sixty years old shall be fifty shekels[b] of silver, according to the sanctuary shekel.[c] If the person is a female, then the equivalent value shall be thirty shekels.[d] If the person is five to twenty years old, then the equivalent value shall be twenty shekels[e] for a male and ten shekels[f] for a female. If the person is one month to five years old, then the equivalent value shall be five shekels[g] for a male and three shekels[h] of silver for a female. If the person is sixty years old or older, then the equivalent value shall be fifteen shekels[i] for a male and ten shekels for a female. But if he is too poor to afford the equivalent value, then he shall present himself before the priest and the priest shall set his value. According to what the person making the vow can afford, so the priest shall set his value.

And if it be an animal, of which men bring an offering to the Lord, all that any man gives of such to the Lord shall be holy. 10 He shall not exchange it nor substitute it, good for bad or bad for good. If he in fact substitutes an animal for another, then both it and its substitute shall be holy. 11 If it is any sort of unclean animal that is not permitted as an offering to the Lord, then he shall present the animal before the priest. 12 And the priest shall set its value, whether good or bad; according to the equivalent value set by the priest, so shall it be. 13 But if he plans on redeeming it, then he shall add one-fifth to the equivalent value.

Footnotes:

  1. Leviticus 27:2 Shorthand for the formula in Lev 5:15.
  2. Leviticus 27:3 About 1¼ pounds, or 575 grams; and in v. 16.
  3. Leviticus 27:3 About ⅖ ounce, or 12 grams; and in v. 25.
  4. Leviticus 27:4 About 12 ounces, or 345 grams.
  5. Leviticus 27:5 About 8 ounces, or 230 grams.
  6. Leviticus 27:5 About 4 ounces, or 115 grams; and in v. 7.
  7. Leviticus 27:6 About 2 ounces, or 58 grams.
  8. Leviticus 27:6 About 1¼ ounces, or 35 grams.
  9. Leviticus 27:7 About 6 ounces, or 175 grams.
Modern English Version (MEV)

The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.

Mark 10:32-52

Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection a Third Time(A)

32 They were on the way, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus went ahead of them. And they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. Again, He took the twelve aside and began to tell them what would happen to Him, 33 saying, “Listen! We are going up to Jerusalem. The Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn Him to death and hand Him over to the Gentiles. 34 They will mock Him, and scourge Him, and spit on Him, and kill Him. Then after three days He will rise.”

The Request of James and John(B)

35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Him, saying, “Teacher, we want that whatever we may ask, You would do for us.”

36 He said to them, “What do you want Me to do for you?”

37 They said to Him, “Grant us to sit, one at Your right hand and the other at Your left hand, in Your glory.”

38 But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I drink and be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?”

39 They said to Him, “We can.”

Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink the cup that I drink and be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized. 40 But to sit at My right hand or at My left hand is not Mine to grant. It is for those for whom it has been prepared.”

41 When the ten heard it, they began to be very displeased with James and John. 42 But Jesus called them together, and said, “You know that those who are appointed to rule over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 43 But it shall not be so among you. Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever among you would be greatest must be servant of all. 45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”

The Healing of Blind Bartimaeus(C)

46 Then they came to Jericho. And as He went out of Jericho with His disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat along the way begging. 47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

48 Many ordered him to keep silent. But he cried out even more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

49 Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called.

So they called the blind man, saying, “Be of good comfort. Rise, He is calling you.” 50 Throwing aside his garment, he rose and came to Jesus.

51 Jesus answered him, “What do you want Me to do for you?”

The blind man said to Him, “Rabbi, that I might receive my sight.”

52 Jesus said to him, “Go your way. Your faith has made you well.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the way.

Modern English Version (MEV)

The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.

Psalm 45

Psalm 45

For the Music Director. To the melody of “Lilies.” A Contemplative Maskil of the sons of Korah. A love song.

My heart is overflowing with a good thought;
I am speaking my works for the king;
my tongue is the pen of a skilled scribe.

You are fairer than all the sons of men;
favor is poured on your lips;
therefore God has blessed you forever.
Gird your sword on your thigh, O mighty one,
with your splendor and your majesty.
In your majesty ride prosperously
because of truth and meekness and righteousness;
and your right hand will teach you awesome things.
Your arrows are sharp in the heart of the king’s enemies;
peoples will fall under you.
Your throne, O God, is forever and ever;
the scepter of Your kingdom is an upright scepter.
You love righteousness and hate wickedness;
therefore God, your God, anointed you
with the oil of gladness above your companions.
All your garments are fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia;
from the ivory palaces stringed instruments make you glad.
Kings’ daughters are among your honorable women;
at your right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir.

10 Listen, O daughter, consider and incline your ear;
forget your own people, and your father’s house,
11 and the king will desire your beauty.
Since he is your lord, bow to him.
12 The daughter of Tyre will be there with a gift;
even the rich among the people will entreat your favor.
13 The royal daughter is all glorious within her chamber;
her clothing is plaited gold.
14 She shall be brought to the king in embroidered garments;
the virgins, her companions who follow her,
shall be brought to you.
15 With gladness and rejoicing they shall be brought;
they shall enter into the king’s palace.

16 Your sons shall succeed your fathers;
you will make them princes in all the land.

17 I will cause your name to be remembered in all generations;
therefore the people will praise you forever and ever.

Modern English Version (MEV)

The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.

Proverbs 10:22

22 The blessing of the Lord makes rich,
and He adds no sorrow with it.

Modern English Version (MEV)

The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.