Bible in a Year.

On the thirty-second day, the judgment on Egypt intensifies. Exodus 9 recounts three terrible plagues: a deadly plague on Egyptian livestock, painful boils on man and beast, and devastating hail that destroys crops and kills those in the fields. Leviticus 7 concludes the instructions on offerings, defining the portions due to the priests. Psalm 49 offers wisdom on the futility of earthly riches, reminding us that no one can buy their own soul or avoid death, contrasting this with trust in God.

1. And the Lord said to Moses: Go in to Pharao, and speak to him: Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews: Let my people go to sacrifice to me.

2. But if thou refuse, and withhold them still:

3. Behold my hand shall be upon thy fields: and a very grievous murrain upon thy horses, and asses, and camels, and oxen, and sheep.

4. And the Lord will make a wonderful difference between the possessions of Israel and the possessions of the Egyptians, that nothing at all shall die of those things that belong to the children of Israel.

5. And the Lord appointed a time, saying: Tomorrow will the Lord do this thing in the land.

6. The Lord therefore did this thing the next day: and all the beasts of the Egyptians died, but of the beasts of the children of Israel there died not one.

7. And Pharao sent to see: and there was not any thing dead of that which Israel possessed. And Pharao's heart was hardened, and he did not let the people go.

8. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron: Take to you handfuls of ashes out of the chimney, and let Moses sprinkle it in the air in the presence of Pharao.

9. And be there dust upon all the land of Egypt: for there shall be boils and swelling blains both in men and beasts in the whole land of Egypt.

10. And they took ashes out of the chimney, and stood before Pharao, and Moses sprinkled it in the air: and there came boils with swelling blains in men and beasts.

11. Neither could the magicians stand before Moses for the boils that were upon them, and in all the land of Egypt.

12. And the Lord hardened Pharao's heart, and he hearkened not unto them, as the Lord had spoken to Moses.

13. And the Lord said to Moses: Arise in the morning, and stand before Pharao, and thou shalt say to him: Thus saith the Lord the God of the Hebrews: Let my people go to sacrifice to me.

14. For I will at this time send all my plagues upon thy heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people: that thou mayst know there is none like me in all the earth.

15. For now I will stretch out my hand to strike thee, and thy people with pestilence, and thou shalt perish from the earth.

16. And therefore have I raised thee, that I may shew my power in thee, and my name may be spoken of throughout all the earth.

17. Dost thou yet hold back my people: and wilt thou not let them go?

18. Behold I will cause it to rain to morrow at this same hour, an exceeding great hail: such as hath not been in Egypt from the day that it was founded, until this present time.

19. Send therefore now presently, and gather together thy cattle, and all that thou hast in the field: for men and beasts, and all things that shall be found abroad, and not gathered together out of the fields, which the hail shall fall upon, shall die.

20. He that feared the word of the Lord among Pharao's servants, made his servants and his cattle flee into houses:

21. And the Lord said to Moses: Stretch forth thy hand towards heaven, that there may be hail in the whole land of Egypt, upon men, and upon beasts, and upon every herb of the field in the land of Egypt.

22. And Moses stretched forth his rod towards heaven, and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and lightning running along the ground: and the Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt.

24. And the hail and fire mixed with it drove on together: and it was of so great bigness, as never before was seen in the whole land of Egypt since that nation was founded.

25. And the hail destroyed through all the land of Egypt all things that were in the fields, both man and beast: and the hail smote every herb of the field, and it broke every tree of the country.

26. Only in the land of Gessen, where the children of Israel were, the hail fell not.

27. And Pharao sent and called Moses and Aaron, saying to them: I have sinned this time also; the Lord is just: I and my people are wicked.

28. Pray ye to the Lord, that the thunderings of God and the hail may cease: that I may let you go, and that you may stay here no longer.

29. Moses said: As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will stretch forth my hands to the Lord, and the thunders shall cease, and the hail shall be no more: that thou mayst know that the earth is the Lord's.

30. But I know that neither thou, nor thy servants do yet fear the Lord God.

31. The flax therefore and the barley were hurt, because the barley was green, and the flax was now boiled:

32. But the wheat, and other winter corn were not hurt, because they were lateward.

33. And when Moses was gone from Pharao out of the city, he stretched forth his hands to the Lord: and the thunders and the hail ceased, neither did there drop any more rain upon the earth.

34. And Pharao seeing that the rain and the hail, and the thunders were ceased, increased his sin.

35. And his heart was hardened, and the heart of his servants, and it was made exceeding hard: neither did he let the children of Israel go, as the Lord had commanded by the hand of Moses.

1. This also is the law of the sacrifice for a trespass, it is most holy:

2. Therefore where the holocaust is immolated, the victim also for a trespass shall be slain: the blood thereof shall be poured round about the altar.

3. They shall offer thereof the rump and the fat that covereth the entrails:

4. The two little kidneys, and the fat which is by the flanks, and the caul of the liver with the little kidneys.

5. And the priest shall burn them upon the altar: it is the burnt sacrifice of the Lord for a trespass.

6. Every male of the priestly race, shall eat this flesh in a holy place, because it is most holy.

7. As the sacrifice for sin is offered, so is also that for a trespass: the same shall be the law of both these sacrifices: it shall belong to the priest that offereth it.

8. The priest that offereth the victim of holocaust, shall have the skin thereof.

9. And every sacrifice of flour that is baked in the oven, and whatsoever is dressed on the gridiron, or in the fryingpan, shall be the priest's that offereth it:

10. Whether they be tempered with oil, or dry, all the sons of Aaron shall have one as much as another.

11. This is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings that is offered to the Lord.

12. If the oblation be for thanksgiving, they shall offer leaves without leaven tempered with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and fine flour fried, and cakes tempered and mingled with oil:

13. Moreover leaves of leavened bread with the sacrifice of thanks, which is offered for peace offerings:

14. Of which one shall be offered to the Lord for firstfruits, and shall be the priest's that shall pour out the blood of the victim.

15. And the flesh of it shall be eaten the same day, neither shall any of it remain until the morning.

16. If any man by vow, or of his own accord offer a sacrifice, it shall in like manner be eaten the same day: and if any of it remain until the morrow, it is lawful to eat it:

17. But whatsoever shall be found on the third day shall be consumed with fire.

18. If any man eat of the flesh of the victim of peace offerings on the third day, the oblation shall be of no effect, neither shall it profit the offerer: yea rather whatsoever soul shall defile itself with such meat, shall be guilty of transgression.

19. The flesh that hath touched any unclean thing, shall not be eaten, but shall be burnt with fire: he that is clean shall eat of it.

20. If any one that is defiled shall eat of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace offerings, which is offered to the Lord, he shall be cut off from his people.

21. And he that hath touched the uncleanness of man, or of beast, or of any thing that can defile, and shall eat of such kind of flesh, shall be cut off from his people.

22. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

23. Say to the children of Israel: The fat of a sheep, and of an ox, and of a goat you shall not eat.

24. The fat of a carcass that hath died of itself, and of a beast that was caught by another beast, you shall have for divers uses.

25. If any man eat the fat that should be offered for the burnt sacrifice of the Lord, he shall perish out of his people.

26. Moreover you shall not eat the blood of any creature whatsoever, whether of birds or beasts.

27. Every one that eateth blood, shall perish from among the people.

28. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

29. Speak to the children of Israel, saying: He that offereth a victim of peace offerings to the Lord, let him offer therewith a sacrifice also, that is, the libations thereof.

30. He shall hold in his hands the fat of the victim, and the breast: and when he hath offered and consecrated both to the Lord, he shall deliver them to the priest,

31. Who shall burn the fat upon the altar, but the breast shall be Aaron's and his sons'.

32. The right shoulder also of the victims of peace offerings shall fall to the priest for firstfruits.

33. He among the sons of Aaron, that offereth the blood, and the fat, he shall have the right shoulder also for his portion.

34. For the breast that is elevated and the shoulder that is separated I have taken of the children of Israel, from off their victims of peace offerings, and have given them to Aaron the priest, and to his sons, by a law for ever, from all the people of Israel.

35. This is the anointing of Aaron and his sons, in the ceremonies of the Lord, in the day when Moses offered them, that they might do the office of priesthood,

36. And the things that the Lord commanded to be given them by the children of Israel, by a perpetual observance in their generations.

37. This is the law of holocaust, and of the sacrifice for sin, and for trespass, and for consecration, and the victims of peace offerings:

38. Which the Lord appointed to Moses in mount Sinai, when he commanded the children of Israel, that they should offer their oblations to the Lord in the desert of Sinai.

1. Unto the end, a psalm for the sons of Core.

2. Hear these things, all ye nations: give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world.

3. All you that are earthborn, and you sons of men: both rich and poor together.

4. My mouth shall speak wisdom: and the meditation of my heart understanding.

5. I will incline my ear to a parable; I will open my proposition on the psaltery.

6. Why shall I fear in the evil day? the iniquity of my heel shall encompass me.

7. They that trust in their own strength, and glory in the multitude of their riches,

8. No brother can redeem, nor shall man redeem: he shall not give to God his ransom,

9. Nor the price of the redemption of his soul: and shall labour for ever,

10. and shall still live unto the end.

11. He shall not see destruction, when he shall see the wise dying: the senseless and the fool shall perish together: And they shall leave their riches to strangers:

12. and their sepulchres shall be their houses for ever. Their dwelling places to all generations: they have called their lands by their names.

13. And man when he was in honour did not understand; he is compared to senseless beasts, and is become like to them.

14. This way of theirs is a stumblingblock to them: and afterwards they shall delight in their mouth.

15. They are laid in hell like sheep: death shall feed upon them. And the just shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their help shall decay in hell from their glory.

16. But God will redeem my soul from the hand of hell, when he shall receive me.

17. Be not thou afraid, when a man shall be made rich, and when the glory of his house shall be increased.

18. For when he shall die he shall take nothing away; nor shall his glory descend with him.

19. For in his lifetime his soul will be blessed: and he will praise thee when thou shalt do well to him.

20. He shall go in to the generations of his fathers: and he shall never see light.

21. Man when he was in honour did not understand: he hath been compared to senseless beasts, and made like to them.