24th March

¹ And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,² Command the children of Israel, that they put out of the camp every leper, and every one that hath an issue, and whosoever is defiled by the dead:³ Both male and female shall ye put out, without the camp shall ye put them; that they defile not their camps, in the midst whereof I dwell.⁴ And the children of Israel did so, and put them out without the camp: as the LORD spake unto Moses, so did the children of Israel.⁵ And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,⁶ Speak unto the children of Israel, When a man or woman shall commit any sin that men commit, to do a trespass against the LORD, and that person be guilty;⁷ Then they shall confess their sin which they have done: and he shall recompense his trespass with the principal thereof, and add unto it the fifth part thereof, and give it unto him against whom he hath trespassed.⁸ But if the man have no kinsman to recompense the trespass unto, let the trespass be recompensed unto the LORD, even to the priest; beside the ram of the atonement, whereby an atonement shall be made for him.⁹ And every offering of all the holy things of the children of Israel, which they bring unto the priest, shall be his.¹⁰ And every man's hallowed things shall be his: whatsoever any man giveth the priest, it shall be his.¹¹ And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,¹² Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man's wife go aside, and commit a trespass against him,¹³ And a man lie with her carnally, and it be hid from the eyes of her husband, and be kept close, and she be defiled, and there be no witness against her, neither she be taken with the manner;¹⁴ And the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be defiled: or if the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be not defiled:¹⁵ Then shall the man bring his wife unto the priest, and he shall bring her offering for her, the tenth part of an ephah of barley meal; he shall pour no oil upon it, nor put frankincense thereon; for it is an offering of jealousy, an offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to remembrance.¹⁶ And the priest shall bring her near, and set her before the LORD:¹⁷ And the priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel; and of the dust that is in the floor of the tabernacle the priest shall take, and put it into the water:¹⁸ And the priest shall set the woman before the LORD, and uncover the woman's head, and put the offering of memorial in her hands, which is the jealousy offering: and the priest shall have in his hand the bitter water that causeth the curse:¹⁹ And the priest shall charge her by an oath, and say unto the woman, If no man have lain with thee, and if thou hast not gone aside to uncleanness with another instead of thy husband, be thou free from this bitter water that causeth the curse:²⁰ But if thou hast gone aside to another instead of thy husband, and if thou be defiled, and some man have lain with thee beside thine husband:²¹ Then the priest shall charge the woman with an oath of cursing, and the priest shall say unto the woman, The LORD make thee a curse and an oath among thy people, when the LORD doth make thy thigh to rot, and thy belly to swell;²² And this water that causeth the curse shall go into thy bowels, to make thy belly to swell, and thy thigh to rot: And the woman shall say, Amen, amen.²³ And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out with the bitter water:²⁴ And he shall cause the woman to drink the bitter water that causeth the curse: and the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her, and become bitter.²⁵ Then the priest shall take the jealousy offering out of the woman's hand, and shall wave the offering before the LORD, and offer it upon the altar:²⁶ And the priest shall take an handful of the offering, even the memorial thereof, and burn it upon the altar, and afterward shall cause the woman to drink the water.²⁷ And when he hath made her to drink the water, then it shall come to pass, that, if she be defiled, and have done trespass against her husband, that the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her, and become bitter, and her belly shall swell, and her thigh shall rot: and the woman shall be a curse among her people.²⁸ And if the woman be not defiled, but be clean; then she shall be free, and shall conceive seed.²⁹ This is the law of jealousies, when a wife goeth aside to another instead of her husband, and is defiled;³⁰ Or when the spirit of jealousy cometh upon him, and he be jealous over his wife, and shall set the woman before the LORD, and the priest shall execute upon her all this law.³¹ Then shall the man be guiltless from iniquity, and this woman shall bear her iniquity.

¹ My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;² So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;³ Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;⁴ If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;⁵ Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.⁶ For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.⁷ He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.⁸ He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints.⁹ Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.¹⁰ When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;¹¹ Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:¹² To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things;¹³ Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;¹⁴ Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked;¹⁵ Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths:¹⁶ To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words;¹⁷ Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God.¹⁸ For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead.¹⁹ None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.²⁰ That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.²¹ For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.²² But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.

¹ And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods.² And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward.³ Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed.⁴ I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.⁵ So he called every one of his lord's debtors unto him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my lord?⁶ And he said, An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty.⁷ Then said he to another, And how much owest thou? And he said, An hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write fourscore.⁸ And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.⁹ And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.¹⁰ He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.¹¹ If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?¹² And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own?¹³ No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.¹⁴ And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him.¹⁵ And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.¹⁶ The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.¹⁷ And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.¹⁸ Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery.¹⁹ There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:²⁰ And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores,²¹ And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.²² And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;²³ And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.²⁴ And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.²⁵ But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.²⁶ And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.²⁷ Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house:²⁸ For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.²⁹ Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.³⁰ And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.³¹ And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.