Today's Reading

1The Lord said to Moses:

2“Make two trumpets of hammered silver, and use them for calling the community together and for having the camps set out.

3When both are sounded, the whole community is to assemble before you at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

4If only one is sounded, the leaders—the heads of the clans of Israel—are to assemble before you.

5When a trumpet blast is sounded, the tribes camping on the east are to set out.

6At the sounding of a second blast, the camps on the south are to set out. The blast will be the signal for setting out.

7To gather the assembly, blow the trumpets, but not with the signal for setting out.

8“The sons of Aaron, the priests, are to blow the trumpets. This is to be a lasting ordinance for you and the generations to come.

9When you go into battle in your own land against an enemy who is oppressing you, sound a blast on the trumpets. Then you will be remembered by the Lord your God and rescued from your enemies.

10Also at your times of rejoicing—your appointed festivals and New Moon feasts—you are to sound the trumpets over your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, and they will be a memorial for you before your God. I am the Lord your God.”

11On the twentieth day of the second month of the second year, the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle of the covenant law.

12Then the Israelites set out from the Desert of Sinai and traveled from place to place until the cloud came to rest in the Desert of Paran.

13They set out, this first time, at the Lord’s command through Moses.

14The divisions of the camp of Judah went first, under their standard. Nahshon son of Amminadab was in command.

15Nethanel son of Zuar was over the division of the tribe of Issachar,

16and Eliab son of Helon was over the division of the tribe of Zebulun.

17Then the tabernacle was taken down, and the Gershonites and Merarites, who carried it, set out.

18The divisions of the camp of Reuben went next, under their standard. Elizur son of Shedeur was in command.

19Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai was over the division of the tribe of Simeon,

20and Eliasaph son of Deuel was over the division of the tribe of Gad.

21Then the Kohathites set out, carrying the holy things. The tabernacle was to be set up before they arrived.

22The divisions of the camp of Ephraim went next, under their standard. Elishama son of Ammihud was in command.

23Gamaliel son of Pedahzur was over the division of the tribe of Manasseh,

24and Abidan son of Gideoni was over the division of the tribe of Benjamin.

25Finally, as the rear guard for all the units, the divisions of the camp of Dan set out under their standard. Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai was in command.

26Pagiel son of Okran was over the division of the tribe of Asher,

27and Ahira son of Enan was over the division of the tribe of Naphtali.

28This was the order of march for the Israelite divisions as they set out.

29Now Moses said to Hobab son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, “We are setting out for the place about which the Lord said, ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us and we will treat you well, for the Lord has promised good things to Israel.”

30He answered, “No, I will not go; I am going back to my own land and my own people.”

31But Moses said, “Please do not leave us. You know where we should camp in the wilderness, and you can be our eyes.

32If you come with us, we will share with you whatever good things the Lord gives us.”

33So they set out from the mountain of the Lord and traveled for three days. The ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them during those three days to find them a place to rest.

34The cloud of the Lord was over them by day when they set out from the camp.

35Whenever the ark set out, Moses said,

“Rise up, Lord!

May your enemies be scattered;

may your foes flee before you.”

36Whenever it came to rest, he said,

“Return, Lord,

to the countless thousands of Israel.”

1Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the Lord, and when he heard them his anger was aroused. Then fire from the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp.

2When the people cried out to Moses, he prayed to the Lord and the fire died down.

3So that place was called Taberah, because fire from the Lord had burned among them.

4The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, “If only we had meat to eat!

5We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic.

6But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!”

7The manna was like coriander seed and looked like resin.

8The people went around gathering it, and then ground it in a hand mill or crushed it in a mortar. They cooked it in a pot or made it into loaves. And it tasted like something made with olive oil.

9When the dew settled on the camp at night, the manna also came down.

10Moses heard the people of every family wailing at the entrance to their tents. The Lord became exceedingly angry, and Moses was troubled.

11He asked the Lord, “Why have you brought this trouble on your servant? What have I done to displease you that you put the burden of all these people on me?

12Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth? Why do you tell me to carry them in my arms, as a nurse carries an infant, to the land you promised on oath to their ancestors?

13Where can I get meat for all these people? They keep wailing to me, ‘Give us meat to eat!’

14I cannot carry all these people by myself; the burden is too heavy for me.

15If this is how you are going to treat me, please go ahead and kill me—if I have found favor in your eyes—and do not let me face my own ruin.”

16The Lord said to Moses: “Bring me seventy of Israel’s elders who are known to you as leaders and officials among the people. Have them come to the tent of meeting, that they may stand there with you.

17I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take some of the power of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them. They will share the burden of the people with you so that you will not have to carry it alone.

18“Tell the people: ‘Consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow, when you will eat meat. The Lord heard you when you wailed, “If only we had meat to eat! We were better off in Egypt!” Now the Lord will give you meat, and you will eat it.

19You will not eat it for just one day, or two days, or five, ten or twenty days,

20but for a whole month—until it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it—because you have rejected the Lord, who is among you, and have wailed before him, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?” ’ ”

21But Moses said, “Here I am among six hundred thousand men on foot, and you say, ‘I will give them meat to eat for a whole month!’

22Would they have enough if flocks and herds were slaughtered for them? Would they have enough if all the fish in the sea were caught for them?”

23The Lord answered Moses, “Is the Lord’s arm too short? Now you will see whether or not what I say will come true for you.”

1Now the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread were only two days away, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were scheming to arrest Jesus secretly and kill him.

2“But not during the festival,” they said, “or the people may riot.”

3While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.

4Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, “Why this waste of perfume?

5It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages and the money given to the poor.” And they rebuked her harshly.

6“Leave her alone,” said Jesus. “Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me.

7The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me.

8She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial.

9Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”

10Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them.

11They were delighted to hear this and promised to give him money. So he watched for an opportunity to hand him over.

12On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?”

13So he sent two of his disciples, telling them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him.

14Say to the owner of the house he enters, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’

15He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there.”

16The disciples left, went into the city and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.

17When evening came, Jesus arrived with the Twelve.

18While they were reclining at the table eating, he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me—one who is eating with me.”

19They were saddened, and one by one they said to him, “Surely you don’t mean me?”

20“It is one of the Twelve,” he replied, “one who dips bread into the bowl with me.

21The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.”

For the director of music. A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.

1Have mercy on me, O God,

according to your unfailing love;

according to your great compassion

blot out my transgressions.

2Wash away all my iniquity

and cleanse me from my sin.

3For I know my transgressions,

and my sin is always before me.

4Against you, you only, have I sinned

and done what is evil in your sight;

so you are right in your verdict

and justified when you judge.

5Surely I was sinful at birth,

sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

6Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;

you taught me wisdom in that secret place.

7Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;

wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

8Let me hear joy and gladness;

let the bones you have crushed rejoice.

9Hide your face from my sins

and blot out all my iniquity.

10Create in me a pure heart, O God,

and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

11Do not cast me from your presence

or take your Holy Spirit from me.

12Restore to me the joy of your salvation

and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

13Then I will teach transgressors your ways,

so that sinners will turn back to you.

14Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,

you who are God my Savior,

and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.

15Open my lips, Lord,

and my mouth will declare your praise.

16You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;

you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.

17My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit;

a broken and contrite heart

you, God, will not despise.

18May it please you to prosper Zion,

to build up the walls of Jerusalem.

19Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous,

in burnt offerings offered whole;

then bulls will be offered on your altar.

31From the mouth of the righteous comes the fruit of wisdom,

but a perverse tongue will be silenced.

32The lips of the righteous know what finds favor,

but the mouth of the wicked only what is perverse.