The Daily Audio Bible

Purification Rites

19 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron:

² These are requirements of the law which the Lord has commanded.

Tell the Israelites to bring you a red heifer without blemish, one that has no defect and that has never been under a yoke. ³ You are to give it to Eleazar the priest. He is to have it taken outside of the camp and slaughtered in his presence. ⁴ With his finger Eleazar the priest is to take some of its blood and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the Tent of Meeting. ⁵ The heifer is to be burned in his sight. Its hide, flesh, and blood are to be burned along with its manure. ⁶ The priest will take cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet yarn and throw them onto the burning heifer. ⁷ Then the priest will wash his clothes and bathe his flesh in water. Afterward he will come into the camp, and the priest will be unclean until evening. ⁸ The one who burns the heifer is to wash his clothing in water and bathe his flesh in water. He will remain unclean until evening.

⁹ A man who is ceremonially clean is to gather up the heifer’s ashes and place them outside of the camp in a clean place. They will be kept for the Israelite congregation to use to make the water for removing impurity.^[a] It is a sin offering. ¹⁰ The one who gathers the heifer’s ashes is to wash his clothes and be unclean until evening. This will be a permanent regulation for the Israelites and the aliens residing among them.

¹¹ Whoever touches the body of a dead person will be unclean for seven days. ¹² He is to purify himself with the water on the third day, and he will become clean on the seventh day. But if he does not purify himself on the third day, then he will not become clean on the seventh day. ¹³ Anyone who touches a dead human body but does not purify himself defiles the Lord’s Dwelling. That person must be cut off from Israel. He is unclean, because he has not sprinkled himself with the water for removing impurity. His uncleanness is still on him.

¹⁴ This is the law when someone dies in a tent: Everyone who comes into the tent and everyone who is in the tent will be unclean for seven days. ¹⁵ Every open container without a lid on it is unclean.

¹⁶ Anyone in the open countryside who touches someone killed by a sword or someone who has died, or anyone who touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days.

¹⁷ For the unclean person, take some of the ashes from the burnt sin offering, put them into a vessel, and add water from a flowing source^[b] to the ashes. ¹⁸ A ceremonially clean person is to take hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle the water on the tent, on all the items, and on the people who were there. He is also to sprinkle it on anyone who has touched someone who was killed or someone who has died and on anyone who has touched a grave or a human bone. ¹⁹ The ceremonially clean person will sprinkle the unclean person on the third day and on the seventh day. On the seventh day, after the ceremonially clean person has purified the unclean person, that person will wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and he will be clean at evening. ²⁰ But anyone who is unclean and refuses to purify himself will be cut off from the midst of the assembly, because he has defiled the sanctuary of the Lord. The water for removing impurity was not sprinkled on him, so he remains unclean. ²¹ This will be a permanent regulation for them. The one who sprinkles the water for removing impurity shall wash his clothing, and whoever touches the water for removing impurity will be unclean until evening.

²² Everything that the unclean person touches will be unclean, and the person who touches those things will be unclean until evening.

The Death of Miriam

20 The people of Israel, the entire community, came to the Wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed at Kadesh. Miriam died there and was buried there.

Water From the Rock

² There was no water for the community, so they assembled together against Moses and Aaron. ³ The people quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord! ⁴ Why have you brought the Lord’s assembly into this wilderness for us and our livestock to die here? ⁵ Why have you taken us up out of Egypt to bring us into this horrible place? This place does not have grain, figs, vines, or pomegranates. There is no water to drink!”

⁶ Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. They fell facedown. The Glory of the Lord appeared to them. ⁷ The Lord spoke to Moses: ⁸ “Take the staff and assemble the community. You and Aaron, your brother, speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will pour out its water. You will bring water for them from the rock and provide water for the community and their livestock.”

⁹ Moses took the staff from the Lord’s presence just as the Lord commanded him. ¹⁰ Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Listen now, you rebels! Must we bring water out of this rock for you?” ¹¹ Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff two times, and a great amount of water gushed out. The congregation and their livestock drank.

¹² Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust me enough to honor me as holy in the eyes of the Israelites, therefore you will not bring this assembly into this land which I have given to them.”

¹³ These are the waters of Meribah,^[c] because there the Israelites quarreled with the Lord, and through them he showed himself to be holy.

Edom Denies Israel Passage

¹⁴ Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom to say, “This is what your brother Israel says: You know all the hardship that has come upon us. ¹⁵ Our ancestors went down to Egypt, and we lived in Egypt for a long time. The Egyptians mistreated us and our ancestors. ¹⁶ When we cried to the Lord, he heard our voice, sent an angel, and brought us out of Egypt. So look, here we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your territory. ¹⁷ Please let us pass through your land. We will not pass through any field or vineyard. We will not drink water from any well. We will go on the King’s Highway. We will not turn to the right or to the left until we have passed through your territory.”

¹⁸ Edom said to him, “You must not pass through our territory, or we will go out to meet you with the sword.”

¹⁹ The Israelites said to them, “We will go up on the main road. If we drink your water, we and our herds of livestock, then we will pay for it. Just let us pass through on foot, nothing else.”

²⁰ Edom said, “You will not pass through.” Edom went out to meet them with a large force of many people. ²¹ Edom refused to give Israel passage through their territory, so Israel turned away from them.

The Death of Aaron

²² The entire community of the Israelites set out from Kadesh and came to Mount Hor. ²³ The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron at Mount Hor along the border of Edom’s territory. He said, ²⁴ “Aaron will be gathered to his people, because he cannot enter into the land which I have given to the Israelites, because you rebelled against my command at the waters of Meribah. ²⁵ Take Aaron and Eleazar his son and bring them up to the top of Mount Hor. ²⁶ Remove Aaron’s garments and put them on Eleazar his son. Aaron will be gathered to his fathers and die there.”

²⁷ Moses did just as the Lord commanded. They went up to the top of Mount Hor in the sight of the entire community. ²⁸ Moses removed Aaron’s garments and put them on Eleazar his son. Aaron died there on the top of the mountain, and Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. ²⁹ When the entire community saw that Aaron had passed away, the entire house of Israel wept for Aaron for thirty days.

Introduction

1 Many have undertaken to compile an account of the events that have been fulfilled among us, ² an account like those handed down to us by those who were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word from the beginning. ³ For this reason, it seemed good to me also, since I followed everything closely from the beginning, to write an orderly account to you, most excellent Theophilus, ⁴ so that you may know the certainty of the things you were taught.

The Angel Gabriel Appears to Zechariah

⁵ In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a certain priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah. His wife was from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. ⁶ They were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and righteous decrees of the Lord. ⁷ They did not have a child because Elizabeth was unable to bear children, and they were both well along in years. ⁸ On one occasion, while Zechariah was serving as priest before God and his division was on duty, ⁹ he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. ¹⁰ The whole crowd of people were praying outside the temple during the hour of the incense offering.

¹¹ An angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. ¹² When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and overcome by fear. ¹³ But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, because your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear a son for you, and you are to name him John. ¹⁴ You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, ¹⁵ because he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to drink wine or beer. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. ¹⁶ He will turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God. ¹⁷ He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, to turn the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to prepare a people who are ready for the Lord.”

¹⁸ Zechariah said to the angel, “How can I be sure of this, because I am an old man, and my wife is well along in years?”

¹⁹ The angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God and was sent to speak to you in order to tell you this good news. ²⁰ Now listen, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day when these things happen, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled at the proper time.”

²¹ Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering what was taking him so long in the temple. ²² When he did come out, he was unable to speak to them. Then they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. He kept making signs to them and remained unable to speak.

²³ When the days of his priestly service were completed, he went back to his home.

²⁴ After those days his wife Elizabeth conceived. She kept herself in seclusion for five months, saying, ²⁵ “The Lord has done this for me in the days when he looked with favor on me and took away my disgrace among the people.”

Psalm 56

When I Am Afraid

Heading

For the choir director. “A Dove on Distant Oaks.”^[a]
By David. A miktam.^[b]
When the Philistines had seized him in Gath.^[c]

The Enemies

David’s Trust

The Enemies

David’s Trust

David’s Promise