Today's Reading

28The Lord said to Moses,

29“Say to the Israelites: ‘Anyone who brings a fellowship offering to the Lord is to bring part of it as their sacrifice to the Lord.

30With their own hands they are to present the food offering to the Lord; they are to bring the fat, together with the breast, and wave the breast before the Lord as a wave offering.

31The priest shall burn the fat on the altar, but the breast belongs to Aaron and his sons.

32You are to give the right thigh of your fellowship offerings to the priest as a contribution.

33The son of Aaron who offers the blood and the fat of the fellowship offering shall have the right thigh as his share.

34From the fellowship offerings of the Israelites, I have taken the breast that is waved and the thigh that is presented and have given them to Aaron the priest and his sons as their perpetual share from the Israelites.’ ”

35This is the portion of the food offerings presented to the Lord that were allotted to Aaron and his sons on the day they were presented to serve the Lord as priests.

36On the day they were anointed, the Lord commanded that the Israelites give this to them as their perpetual share for the generations to come.

37These, then, are the regulations for the burnt offering, the grain offering, the sin offering, the guilt offering, the ordination offering and the fellowship offering,

38which the Lord gave Moses at Mount Sinai in the Desert of Sinai on the day he commanded the Israelites to bring their offerings to the Lord.

1The Lord said to Moses,

2“Bring Aaron and his sons, their garments, the anointing oil, the bull for the sin offering, the two rams and the basket containing bread made without yeast,

3and gather the entire assembly at the entrance to the tent of meeting.”

4Moses did as the Lord commanded him, and the assembly gathered at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

5Moses said to the assembly, “This is what the Lord has commanded to be done.”

6Then Moses brought Aaron and his sons forward and washed them with water.

7He put the tunic on Aaron, tied the sash around him, clothed him with the robe and put the ephod on him. He also fastened the ephod with a decorative waistband, which he tied around him.

8He placed the breastpiece on him and put the Urim and Thummim in the breastpiece.

9Then he placed the turban on Aaron’s head and set the gold plate, the sacred emblem, on the front of it, as the Lord commanded Moses.

10Then Moses took the anointing oil and anointed the tabernacle and everything in it, and so consecrated them.

11He sprinkled some of the oil on the altar seven times, anointing the altar and all its utensils and the basin with its stand, to consecrate them.

12He poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron’s head and anointed him to consecrate him.

13Then he brought Aaron’s sons forward, put tunics on them, tied sashes around them and fastened caps on them, as the Lord commanded Moses.

14He then presented the bull for the sin offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on its head.

15Moses slaughtered the bull and took some of the blood, and with his finger he put it on all the horns of the altar to purify the altar. He poured out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. So he consecrated it to make atonement for it.

16Moses also took all the fat around the internal organs, the long lobe of the liver, and both kidneys and their fat, and burned it on the altar.

17But the bull with its hide and its flesh and its intestines he burned up outside the camp, as the Lord commanded Moses.

18He then presented the ram for the burnt offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on its head.

19Then Moses slaughtered the ram and splashed the blood against the sides of the altar.

20He cut the ram into pieces and burned the head, the pieces and the fat.

21He washed the internal organs and the legs with water and burned the whole ram on the altar. It was a burnt offering, a pleasing aroma, a food offering presented to the Lord, as the Lord commanded Moses.

22He then presented the other ram, the ram for the ordination, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on its head.

23Moses slaughtered the ram and took some of its blood and put it on the lobe of Aaron’s right ear, on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot.

24Moses also brought Aaron’s sons forward and put some of the blood on the lobes of their right ears, on the thumbs of their right hands and on the big toes of their right feet. Then he splashed blood against the sides of the altar.

25After that, he took the fat, the fat tail, all the fat around the internal organs, the long lobe of the liver, both kidneys and their fat and the right thigh.

26And from the basket of bread made without yeast, which was before the Lord, he took one thick loaf, one thick loaf with olive oil mixed in, and one thin loaf, and he put these on the fat portions and on the right thigh.

27He put all these in the hands of Aaron and his sons, and they waved them before the Lord as a wave offering.

28Then Moses took them from their hands and burned them on the altar on top of the burnt offering as an ordination offering, a pleasing aroma, a food offering presented to the Lord.

29Moses also took the breast, which was his share of the ordination ram, and waved it before the Lord as a wave offering, as the Lord commanded Moses.

30Then Moses took some of the anointing oil and some of the blood from the altar and sprinkled them on Aaron and his garments and on his sons and their garments. So he consecrated Aaron and his garments and his sons and their garments.

31Moses then said to Aaron and his sons, “Cook the meat at the entrance to the tent of meeting and eat it there with the bread from the basket of ordination offerings, as I was commanded: ‘Aaron and his sons are to eat it.’

32Then burn up the rest of the meat and the bread.

33Do not leave the entrance to the tent of meeting for seven days, until the days of your ordination are completed, for your ordination will last seven days.

34What has been done today was commanded by the Lord to make atonement for you.

35You must stay at the entrance to the tent of meeting day and night for seven days and do what the Lord requires, so you will not die; for that is what I have been commanded.”

36So Aaron and his sons did everything the Lord commanded through Moses.

1On the eighth day Moses summoned Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel.

2He said to Aaron, “Take a bull calf for your sin offering and a ram for your burnt offering, both without defect, and present them before the Lord.

3Then say to the Israelites: ‘Take a male goat for a sin offering, a calf and a lamb—both a year old and without defect—for a burnt offering,

4and an ox and a ram for a fellowship offering to sacrifice before the Lord, together with a grain offering mixed with olive oil. For today the Lord will appear to you.’ ”

5They took the things Moses commanded to the front of the tent of meeting, and the entire assembly came near and stood before the Lord.

6Then Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded you to do, so that the glory of the Lord may appear to you.”

31Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him.

32A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.”

33“Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked.

34Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers!

35Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”

1Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge.

2He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said:

3“Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed.

4As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.

5Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow.

6But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.

7Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain.

8Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.”

9Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”

10When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables.

11He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables

12so that,

13Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable?

14The farmer sows the word.

15Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.

16Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy.

17But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.

18Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word;

19but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.

20Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”

21He said to them, “Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don’t you put it on its stand?

22For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open.

23If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear.”

24“Consider carefully what you hear,” he continued. “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you—and even more.

25Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.”

12The wicked plot against the righteous

13but the Lord laughs at the wicked,

14The wicked draw the sword

15But their swords will pierce their own hearts,

16Better the little that the righteous have

17for the power of the wicked will be broken,

18The blameless spend their days under the Lord’s care,

19In times of disaster they will not wither;

20But the wicked will perish:

21The wicked borrow and do not repay,

22those the Lord blesses will inherit the land,

23The Lord makes firm the steps

24though he may stumble, he will not fall,

25I was young and now I am old,

26They are always generous and lend freely;

27Turn from evil and do good;

28For the Lord loves the just

29The righteous will inherit the land

5He who gathers crops in summer is a prudent son,