Church: +64 (09) 235 2238 Op Shop: +64 (09) 235 7914
Reading Plan
Day 45 Day 46Day 47

Leviticus chapter 25

1
The LORD spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai and commanded him
2
to give the following regulations to the people of Israel. When you enter the land that the LORD is giving you, you shall honor the LORD by not cultivating the land every seventh year.
3
You shall plant your fields, prune your vineyards, and gather your crops for six years.
4
But the seventh year is to be a year of complete rest for the land, a year dedicated to the LORD. Do not plant your fields or prune your vineyards.
5
Do not even harvest the grain that grows by itself without being planted, and do not gather the grapes from your unpruned vines; it is a year of complete rest for the land.
6
Although the land has not been cultivated during that year, it will provide food for you, your slaves, your hired men, the foreigners living with you,
7
your domestic animals, and the wild animals in your fields. Everything that it produces may be eaten.
8
Count seven times seven years, a total of forty-nine years.
9
Then, on the tenth day of the seventh month, the Day of Atonement, send someone to blow a trumpet throughout the whole land.
10
In this way you shall set the fiftieth year apart and proclaim freedom to all the inhabitants of the land. During this year all property that has been sold shall be restored to the original owner or the descendants, and any who have been sold as slaves shall return to their families.
11
You shall not plant your fields or harvest the grain that grows by itself or gather the grapes in your unpruned vineyards.
12
The whole year shall be sacred for you; you shall eat only what the fields produce of themselves.
13
In this year all property that has been sold shall be restored to its original owner.
14
So when you sell land to an Israelite or buy land, do not deal unfairly.
15
The price is to be set according to the number of years the land can produce crops before the next Year of Restoration.
16
If there are many years, the price shall be higher, but if there are only a few years, the price shall be lower, because what is being sold is the number of crops the land can produce.
17
Do not cheat an Israelite, but obey the LORD your God.
18
Obey all the LORD's laws and commands, so that you may live in safety in the land.
19
The land will produce its crops, and you will have all you want to eat and will live in safety.
20
But someone may ask what there will be to eat during the seventh year, when no fields are planted and no crops gathered.
21
The LORD will bless the land in the sixth year so that it will produce enough food for two years.
22
When you plant your fields in the eighth year, you will still be eating what you harvested during the sixth year, and you will have enough to eat until the crops you plant that year are harvested.
23
Your land must not be sold on a permanent basis, because you do not own it; it belongs to God, and you are like foreigners who are allowed to make use of it.
24
When land is sold, the right of the original owner to buy it back must be recognized.
25
If any of you Israelites become poor and are forced to sell your land, your closest relative is to buy it back.
26
If you have no relative to buy it back, you may later become prosperous and have enough to buy it back yourself.
27
In that case you must pay to the one who bought it a sum that will make up for the years remaining until the next Year of Restoration, when you would in any event recover your land.
28
But if you do not have enough money to buy the land back, it remains under the control of the one who bought it until the next Year of Restoration. In that year it will be returned to its original owner.
29
If you sell a house in a walled city, you have the right to buy it back during the first full year from the date of sale.
30
But if you do not buy it back within the year, you lose the right of repurchase, and the house becomes the permanent property of the purchasers and their descendants; it will not be returned in the Year of Restoration.
31
But houses in unwalled villages are to be treated like fields; the original owner has the right to buy them back, and they are to be returned in the Year of Restoration.
32
However, Levites have the right to buy back at any time their property in the cities assigned to them.
33
If a house in one of these cities is sold by a Levite and is not bought back, it must be returned in the Year of Restoration, because the houses which the Levites own in their cities are their permanent property among the people of Israel.
34
But the pasture land around the Levite cities shall never be sold; it is their property forever.
35
If any Israelites living near you become poor and cannot support themselves, you must provide for them as you would for a hired worker, so that they can continue to live near you.
36
Do not charge Israelites any interest, but obey God and let them live near you.
37
Do not make them pay interest on the money you lend them, and do not make a profit on the food you sell them.
38
This is the command of the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt in order to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.
39
If any Israelites living near you become so poor that they sell themselves to you as a slave, you shall not make them do the work of a slave.
40
They shall stay with you as hired workers and serve you until the next Year of Restoration.
41
At that time they and their children shall leave you and return to their family and to the property of their ancestors.
42
The people of Israel are the LORD's slaves, and he brought them out of Egypt; they must not be sold into slavery.
43
Do not treat them harshly, but obey your God.
44
If you need slaves, you may buy them from the nations around you.
45
You may also buy the children of the foreigners who are living among you. Such children born in your land may become your property,
46
and you may leave them as an inheritance to your children, whom they must serve as long as they live. But you must not treat any Israelites harshly.
47
Suppose a foreigner living with you becomes rich, while some Israelites become poor and sell themselves as slaves to that foreigner or to a member of that foreigner's family.
48
After they are sold, they still have the right to be bought back. A brother
49
or an uncle or a cousin or another close relative may buy them back; or if they themselves earn enough, they may buy their own freedom.
50
They must consult the one who bought them, and they must count the years from the time they sold themselves until the next Year of Restoration and must set the price for their release on the basis of the wages paid hired workers.
51
They must refund a part of the purchase price according to the number of years left,
52
(SEE 25:51)
53
as if they had been hired on an annual basis. Their master must not treat them harshly.
54
If they are not set free in any of these ways, they and their children must be set free in the next Year of Restoration.
55
Israelites cannot be permanent slaves, because the people of Israel are the LORD's slaves. He brought them out of Egypt; he is the LORD their God.

Psalm chapter 25

1
To you, O LORD, I offer my prayer;
2
in you, my God, I trust. Save me from the shame of defeat; don't let my enemies gloat over me!
3
Defeat does not come to those who trust in you, but to those who are quick to rebel against you.
4
Teach me your ways, O LORD; make them known to me.
5
Teach me to live according to your truth, for you are my God, who saves me. I always trust in you.
6
Remember, O LORD, your kindness and constant love which you have shown from long ago.
7
Forgive the sins and errors of my youth. In your constant love and goodness, remember me, LORD!
8
Because the LORD is righteous and good, he teaches sinners the path they should follow.
9
He leads the humble in the right way and teaches them his will.
10
With faithfulness and love he leads all who keep his covenant and obey his commands.
11
Keep your promise, LORD, and forgive my sins, for they are many.
12
Those who have reverence for the LORD will learn from him the path they should follow.
13
They will always be prosperous, and their children will possess the land.
14
The LORD is the friend of those who obey him and he affirms his covenant with them.
15
I look to the LORD for help at all times, and he rescues me from danger.
16
Turn to me, LORD, and be merciful to me, because I am lonely and weak.
17
Relieve me of my worries and save me from all my troubles.
18
Consider my distress and suffering and forgive all my sins.
19
See how many enemies I have; see how much they hate me.
20
Protect me and save me; keep me from defeat. I come to you for safety.
21
May my goodness and honesty preserve me, because I trust in you.
22
From all their troubles, O God, save your people Israel!

Psalm chapter 26

1
Declare me innocent, O LORD, because I do what is right and trust you completely.
2
Examine me and test me, LORD; judge my desires and thoughts.
3
Your constant love is my guide; your faithfulness always leads me.
4
I do not keep company with worthless people; I have nothing to do with hypocrites.
5
I hate the company of the evil and avoid the wicked.
6
LORD, I wash my hands to show that I am innocent and march in worship around your altar.
7
I sing a hymn of thanksgiving and tell of all your wonderful deeds.
8
I love the house where you live, O LORD, the place where your glory dwells.
9
Do not destroy me with the sinners; spare me from the fate of murderers---
10
those who do evil all the time and are always ready to take bribes.
11
As for me, I do what is right; be merciful to me and save me!
12
I am safe from all dangers; in the assembly of his people I praise the LORD.

Acts chapter 22

1
"My fellow Jews, listen to me as I make my defense before you!"
2
When they heard him speaking to them in Hebrew, they became even quieter; and Paul went on:
3
"I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up here in Jerusalem as a student of Gamaliel. I received strict instruction in the Law of our ancestors and was just as dedicated to God as are all of you who are here today.
4
I persecuted to the death the people who followed this Way. I arrested men and women and threw them into prison.
5
The High Priest and the whole Council can prove that I am telling the truth. I received from them letters written to fellow Jews in Damascus, so I went there to arrest these people and bring them back in chains to Jerusalem to be punished.
6
"As I was traveling and coming near Damascus, about midday a bright light from the sky flashed suddenly around me.
7
I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, 'Saul, Saul! Why do you persecute me?'
8
'Who are you, Lord?' I asked. 'I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you persecute,' he said to me.
9
The men with me saw the light, but did not hear the voice of the one who was speaking to me.
10
I asked, 'What shall I do, Lord?' and the Lord said to me, 'Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told everything that God has determined for you to do.'
11
I was blind because of the bright light, and so my companions took me by the hand and led me into Damascus.
12
"In that city was a man named Ananias, a religious man who obeyed our Law and was highly respected by all the Jews living there.
13
He came to me, stood by me, and said, 'Brother Saul, see again!' At that very moment I saw again and looked at him.
14
He said, 'The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will, to see his righteous Servant, and to hear him speaking with his own voice.
15
For you will be a witness for him to tell everyone what you have seen and heard.
16
And now, why wait any longer? Get up and be baptized and have your sins washed away by praying to him.'
17
"I went back to Jerusalem, and while I was praying in the Temple, I had a vision,
18
in which I saw the Lord, as he said to me, 'Hurry and leave Jerusalem quickly, because the people here will not accept your witness about me.'
19
'Lord,' I answered, 'they know very well that I went to the synagogues and arrested and beat those who believe in you.
20
And when your witness Stephen was put to death, I myself was there, approving of his murder and taking care of the cloaks of his murderers.'
21
'Go,' the Lord said to me, 'for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.' "
22
The people listened to Paul until he said this; but then they started shouting at the top of their voices, "Away with him! Kill him! He's not fit to live!"
23
They were screaming, waving their clothes, and throwing dust up in the air.
24
The Roman commander ordered his men to take Paul into the fort, and he told them to whip him in order to find out why the Jews were screaming like this against him.
25
But when they had tied him up to be whipped, Paul said to the officer standing there, "Is it lawful for you to whip a Roman citizen who hasn't even been tried for any crime?"
26
When the officer heard this, he went to the commander and asked him, "What are you doing? That man is a Roman citizen!"
27
So the commander went to Paul and asked him, "Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?" "Yes," answered Paul.
28
The commander said, "I became one by paying a large amount of money." "But I am one by birth," Paul answered.
29
At once the men who were going to question Paul drew back from him; and the commander was frightened when he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had put him in chains.
30
The commander wanted to find out for sure what the Jews were accusing Paul of; so the next day he had Paul's chains taken off and ordered the chief priests and the whole Council to meet. Then he took Paul and made him stand before them.

Translate

enzh-CNnlfrdeitjakoptrues

Subscribe To Our Newsletter