March 3
14“If someone dedicates a house to the Lord, the priest will come to assess its value. The priest’s assessment will be final, whether high or low. 15If the person who dedicated the house wants to buy it back, he must pay the value set by the priest, plus 20 percent. Then the house will again be his.
16“If someone dedicates to the Lord a piece of his family property, its value will be assessed according to the amount of seed required to plant it—fifty shekels of silver for a field planted with five bushels of barley seed. 17If the field is dedicated to the Lord in the Year of Jubilee, then the entire assessment will apply.
18But if the field is dedicated after the Year of Jubilee, the priest will assess the land’s value in proportion to the number of years left until the next Year of Jubilee. Its assessed value is reduced each year. 19If the person who dedicated the field wants to buy it back, he must pay the value set by the priest, plus
20 percent. Then the field will again be legally his. 20But if he does not want to buy it back, and it is sold to someone else, the field can no longer be bought back. 21When the field is released in the Year of Jubilee, it will be holy, a field specially set apart for the Lord. It will become the property of the priests. 22“If someone dedicates to the Lord a field he has purchased but which is not part of his family property,
23the priest will assess its value based on the number of years left until the next Year of Jubilee. On that day he must give the assessed value of the land as a sacred donation to the Lord. 24In the Year of Jubilee the field must be returned to the person from whom he purchased it, the one who inherited it as family property. 25(All the payments must be measured by the weight of the sanctuary shekel, which equals twenty gerahs.)
26“You may not dedicate a firstborn animal to the Lord, for the firstborn of your cattle, sheep, and goats already belong to him. 27However, you may buy back the firstborn of a ceremonially unclean animal by paying the priest’s assessment of its worth, plus 20 percent. If you do not buy it back, the priest will sell it at its assessed value.
28“However, anything specially set apart for the Lord—whether a person, an animal, or family property—must never be sold or bought back. Anything devoted in this way has been set apart as holy, and it belongs to the Lord. 29No person specially set apart for destruction may be bought back. Such a person must be put to death.
30“One-tenth of the produce of the land, whether grain from the fields or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord and must be set apart to him as holy. 31If you want to buy back the Lord’s tenth of the grain or fruit, you must pay its value, plus 20 percent. 32Count off every tenth animal from your herds and flocks and set them apart for the Lord as holy.
33You may not pick and choose between good and bad animals, and you may not substitute one for another. But if you do exchange one animal for another, then both the original animal and its substitute will be considered holy and cannot be bought back.” 34These are the commands that the Lord gave through Moses on Mount Sinai for the Israelites.
Numbers Chapter 1
1A year after Israel’s departure from Egypt, the Lord spoke to Moses in the Tabernacle in the wilderness of Sinai. On the first day of the second month* of that year he said, 2“From the whole community of Israel, record the names of all the warriors by their clans and families. List all the men 3twenty years old or older who are able to go to war. You and Aaron must register the troops, 4and you will be assisted by one family leader from each tribe.
5“These are the tribes and the names of the leaders who will assist you:
Tribe Leader
Reuben Elizur son of Shedeur
6 Simeon Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai
7 Judah Nahshon son of Amminadab
8 Issachar Nethanel son of Zuar
9 Zebulun Eliab son of Helon
10Ephraim son of Joseph Elishama son of Ammihud
Manasseh son of Joseph Gamaliel son of Pedahzur
11Benjamin Abidan son of Gideoni
12Dan Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai
13Asher Pagiel son of Ocran
14Gad Eliasaph son of Deuel
15Naphtali Ahira son of Enan
16These are the chosen leaders of the community, the leaders of their ancestral tribes, the heads of the clans of Israel.” 17So Moses and Aaron called together these chosen leaders, 18and they assembled the whole community of Israel on that very day. All the people were registered according to their ancestry by their clans and families. The men of Israel who were twenty years old or older were listed one by one,
19just as the Lord had commanded Moses. So Moses recorded their names in the wilderness of Sinai.
20-21This is the number of men twenty years old or older who were able to go to war, as their names were listed in the records of their clans and families:
Tribe Number
Reuben (Jacob’s oldest son) 46,500
22-23 Simeon 59,300
24-25 Gad 45,650
26-27 Judah 74,600
28-29 Issachar 54,400
30-31 Zebulun 57,400
32-33 Ephraim son of Joseph 40,500
34-35 Manasseh son of Joseph 32,200
36-37 Benjamin 35,400
38-39 Dan 62,700
40-41 Asher 41,500
42-43 Naphtali 53,400
44These were the men registered by Moses and Aaron and the twelve leaders of Israel, all listed according to their ancestral descent. 45They were registered by families all the men of Israel who were twenty years old or older and able to go to war. 46The total number was 603,550. 47But this total did not include the Levites.
48For the Lord had said to Moses, 49“Do not include the tribe of Levi in the registration; do not count them with the rest of the Israelites. 50Put the Levites in charge of the Tabernacle of the Covenant, along with all its furnishings and equipment. They must carry the Tabernacle and all its furnishings as you travel, and they must take care of it and camp around it.
51Whenever it is time for the Tabernacle to move, the Levites will take it down. And when it is time to stop, they will set it up again. But any unauthorized person who goes too near the Tabernacle must be put to death. 52Each tribe of Israel will camp in a designated area with its own family banner.
53But the Levites will camp around the Tabernacle of the Covenant to protect the community of Israel from the Lord’s anger. The Levites are responsible to stand guard around the Tabernacle.” 54So the Israelites did everything just as the Lord had commanded Moses.
Mark 11:1-25
1As Jesus and his disciples approached Jerusalem, they came to the towns of Bethphage and Bethany on the Mount of Olives. Jesus sent two of them on ahead. 2“Go into that village over there,” he told them. “As soon as you enter it, you will see a young donkey tied there that no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 3If anyone asks, ‘What are you doing?’ just say, ‘The Lord needs it and will return it soon.’ ”
4The two disciples left and found the colt standing in the street, tied outside the front door. 5As they were untying it, some bystanders demanded, “What are you doing, untying that colt?” 6They said what Jesus had told them to say, and they were permitted to take it. 7Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their garments over it, and he sat on it.
8Many in the crowd spread their garments on the road ahead of him, and others spread leafy branches they had cut in the fields. 9Jesus was in the center of the procession, and the people all around him were shouting,
“Praise God!
Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
10 Blessings on the coming Kingdom of our ancestor David! Praise God in highest heaven!” 11So Jesus came to Jerusalem and went into the Temple. After looking around carefully at everything, he left because it was late in the afternoon. Then he returned to Bethany with the twelve disciples. 12The next morning as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry.
13He noticed a fig tree in full leaf a little way off, so he went over to see if he could find any figs. But there were only leaves because it was too early in the season for fruit. 14Then Jesus said to the tree, “May no one ever eat your fruit again!” And the disciples heard him say it. 15When they arrived back in Jerusalem, Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the people buying and selling animals for sacrifices. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves,
16and he stopped everyone from using the Temple as a marketplace.* 17He said to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves.” 18When the leading priests and teachers of religious law heard what Jesus had done, they began planning how to kill him. But they were afraid of him because the people were so amazed at his teaching.
19That evening Jesus and the disciples left* the city. 20The next morning as they passed by the fig tree he had cursed, the disciples noticed it had withered from the roots up. 21Peter remembered what Jesus had said to the tree on the previous day and exclaimed, “Look, Rabbi! The fig tree you cursed has withered and died!”
22Then Jesus said to the disciples, “Have faith in God.
23I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. 24I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours. 25But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too.”
Psalm 46:1-11
For the choir director: A song of the descendants of Korah, to be sung by soprano voices.*
1 God is our refuge and strength,
always ready to help in times of trouble.
2 So we will not fear when earthquakes come
and the mountains crumble into the sea.
3 Let the oceans roar and foam.
Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge!
Interlude
4 A river brings joy to the city of our God,
the sacred home of the Most High.
5 God dwells in that city; it cannot be destroyed.
From the very break of day, God will protect it.
6 The nations are in chaos,
and their kingdoms crumble!
God’s voice thunders,
and the earth melts!
7 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is here among us;
the God of Israel is our fortress.
Interlude
8 Come, see the glorious works of the Lord:
See how he brings destruction upon the world.
9 He causes wars to end throughout the earth.
He breaks the bow and snaps the spear;
he burns the shields with fire.
10 “Be still, and know that I am God!
I will be honored by every nation.
I will be honored throughout the world.”
11 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is here among us;
the God of Israel is our fortress.
Interlude
Proverbs 10:23
23 Doing wrong is fun for a fool,
but living wisely brings pleasure to the sensible.