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Moses had married a Cushite woman, and Miriam and Aaron criticized him for it.
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They said, "Has the LORD spoken only through Moses? Hasn't he also spoken through us?" The LORD heard what they said.
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(Moses was a humble man, more humble than anyone else on earth.)
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Suddenly the LORD said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, "I want the three of you to come out to the Tent of my presence." They went,
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and the LORD came down in a pillar of cloud, stood at the entrance of the Tent, and called out, "Aaron! Miriam!" The two of them stepped forward,
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and the LORD said, "Now hear what I have to say! When there are prophets among you, I reveal myself to them in visions and speak to them in dreams.
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It is different when I speak with my servant Moses; I have put him in charge of all my people Israel.
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So I speak to him face-to-face, clearly and not in riddles; he has even seen my form! How dare you speak against my servant Moses?"
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The LORD was angry with them; and so as he departed
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and the cloud left the Tent, Miriam's skin was suddenly covered with a dreaded disease and turned as white as snow. When Aaron looked at her and saw that she was covered with the disease,
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he said to Moses, "Please, sir, do not make us suffer this punishment for our foolish sin.
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Don't let her become like something born dead with half its flesh eaten away."
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So Moses cried out to the LORD, "O God, heal her!"
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The LORD answered, "If her father had spit in her face, she would have to bear her disgrace for seven days. So let her be shut out of the camp for a week, and after that she can be brought back in."
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Miriam was shut out of the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on until she was brought back in.
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Then they left Hazeroth and set up camp in the wilderness of Paran.
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The LORD said to Moses,
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"Choose one of the leaders from each of the twelve tribes and send them as spies to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites."
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Moses obeyed and from the wilderness of Paran he sent out leaders, as follows: (Tribe: Leader); Reuben: Shammua son of Zaccur; Simeon: Shaphat son of Hori; Judah: Caleb son of Jephunneh; Issachar: Igal son of Joseph; Ephraim: Hoshea son of Nun; Benjamin: Palti son of Raphu; Zebulun: Gaddiel son of Sodi; Manasseh: Gaddi son of Susi; Dan: Ammiel son of Gemalli; Asher: Sethur son of Michael; Naphtali: Nahbi son of Vophsi; Gad: Geuel son of Machi
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These are the spies Moses sent to explore the land. He changed the name of Hoshea son of Nun to Joshua.
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When Moses sent them out, he said to them, "Go north from here into the southern part of the land of Canaan and then on into the hill country.
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Find out what kind of country it is, how many people live there, and how strong they are.
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Find out whether the land is good or bad and whether the people live in open towns or in fortified cities.
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Find out whether the soil is fertile and whether the land is wooded. And be sure to bring back some of the fruit that grows there." (It was the season when grapes were beginning to ripen.)
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So the men went north and explored the land from the wilderness of Zin in the south all the way to Rehob, near Hamath Pass in the north.
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They went first into the southern part of the land and came to Hebron, where the clans of Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of a race of giants called the Anakim, lived. (Hebron was founded seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)
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They came to Eshcol Valley, and there they cut off a branch which had one bunch of grapes on it so heavy that it took two men to carry it on a pole between them. They also brought back some pomegranates and figs.
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(That place was named Eshcol Valley because of the bunch of grapes the Israelites cut off there.)
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After exploring the land for forty days, the spies returned
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to Moses, Aaron, and the whole community of Israel at Kadesh in the wilderness of Paran. They reported what they had seen and showed them the fruit they had brought.
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They told Moses, "We explored the land and found it to be rich and fertile; and here is some of its fruit.
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But the people who live there are powerful, and their cities are very large and well fortified. Even worse, we saw the descendants of the giants there.
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Amalekites live in the southern part of the land; Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country; and Canaanites live by the Mediterranean Sea and along the Jordan River."
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Caleb silenced the people who were complaining against Moses, and said, "We should attack now and take the land; we are strong enough to conquer it."
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But the men who had gone with Caleb said, "No, we are not strong enough to attack them; the people there are more powerful than we are."
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So they spread a false report among the Israelites about the land they had explored. They said, "That land doesn't even produce enough to feed the people who live there. Everyone we saw was very tall,
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and we even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak. We felt as small as grasshoppers, and that is how we must have looked to them."
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O Lord, you have always been our home.
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Before you created the hills or brought the world into being, you were eternally God, and will be God forever.
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You tell us to return to what we were; you change us back to dust.
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A thousand years to you are like one day; they are like yesterday, already gone, like a short hour in the night.
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You carry us away like a flood; we last no longer than a dream. We are like weeds that sprout in the morning,
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that grow and burst into bloom, then dry up and die in the evening.
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We are destroyed by your anger; we are terrified by your fury.
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You place our sins before you, our secret sins where you can see them.
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Our life is cut short by your anger; it fades away like a whisper.
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Seventy years is all we have--- eighty years, if we are strong; yet all they bring us is trouble and sorrow; life is soon over, and we are gone.
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Who has felt the full power of your anger? Who knows what fear your fury can bring?
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Teach us how short our life is, so that we may become wise.
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How much longer will your anger last? Have pity, O LORD, on your servants!
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Fill us each morning with your constant love, so that we may sing and be glad all our life.
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Give us now as much happiness as the sadness you gave us during all our years of misery.
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Let us, your servants, see your mighty deeds; let our descendants see your glorious might.
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Lord our God, may your blessings be with us. Give us success in all we do!
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A few days later Jesus went back to Capernaum, and the news spread that he was at home.
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So many people came together that there was no room left, not even out in front of the door. Jesus was preaching the message to them
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when four men arrived, carrying a paralyzed man to Jesus.
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Because of the crowd, however, they could not get the man to him. So they made a hole in the roof right above the place where Jesus was. When they had made an opening, they let the man down, lying on his mat.
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Seeing how much faith they had, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, "My son, your sins are forgiven."
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Some teachers of the Law who were sitting there thought to themselves,
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"How does he dare talk like this? This is blasphemy! God is the only one who can forgive sins!"
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At once Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he said to them, "Why do you think such things?
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Is it easier to say to this paralyzed man, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, pick up your mat, and walk'?
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I will prove to you, then, that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins." So he said to the paralyzed man,
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"I tell you, get up, pick up your mat, and go home!"
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While they all watched, the man got up, picked up his mat, and hurried away. They were all completely amazed and praised God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this!"
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Jesus went back again to the shore of Lake Galilee. A crowd came to him, and he started teaching them.
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As he walked along, he saw a tax collector, Levi son of Alphaeus, sitting in his office. Jesus said to him, "Follow me." Levi got up and followed him.
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Later on Jesus was having a meal in Levi's house. A large number of tax collectors and other outcasts was following Jesus, and many of them joined him and his disciples at the table.
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Some teachers of the Law, who were Pharisees, saw that Jesus was eating with these outcasts and tax collectors, so they asked his disciples, "Why does he eat with such people?"
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Jesus heard them and answered, "People who are well do not need a doctor, but only those who are sick. I have not come to call respectable people, but outcasts."
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On one occasion the followers of John the Baptist and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came to Jesus and asked him, "Why is it that the disciples of John the Baptist and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but yours do not?"
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Jesus answered, "Do you expect the guests at a wedding party to go without food? Of course not! As long as the bridegroom is with them, they will not do that.
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But the day will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.
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"No one uses a piece of new cloth to patch up an old coat, because the new patch will shrink and tear off some of the old cloth, making an even bigger hole.
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Nor does anyone pour new wine into used wineskins, because the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the skins will be ruined. Instead, new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins."
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Jesus was walking through some wheat fields on a Sabbath. As his disciples walked along with him, they began to pick the heads of wheat.
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So the Pharisees said to Jesus, "Look, it is against our Law for your disciples to do that on the Sabbath!"
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Jesus answered, "Have you never read what David did that time when he needed something to eat? He and his men were hungry,
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so he went into the house of God and ate the bread offered to God. This happened when Abiathar was the High Priest. According to our Law only the priests may eat this bread---but David ate it and even gave it to his men."
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And Jesus concluded, "The Sabbath was made for the good of human beings; they were not made for the Sabbath.
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So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."
