Bible in a Year.

On the sixty-ninth day, Numbers 21 recounts the people's victories and trials, including the episode of the bronze serpent that prefigures salvation in Christ. Deuteronomy 22 presents laws of compassion and social responsibility. Psalm 102 is a heartfelt prayer of someone in distress crying out for restoration, reminding us that God hears helplessness and remains the same from generation to generation.

1. And when king Arad the Chanaanite, who dwelt towards the south, had heard this, to wit, that Israel was come by the way of the spies, he fought against them, and overcoming them carried off their spoils.

2. But Israel binding himself by vow to the Lord, said: It thou wilt deliver this people into my hand, I will utterly destroy their cities.

3. And the Lord heard the prayers of Israel, and delivered up the Chanaanite, and they cut them off and destroyed their cities: and they called the name of that place Horma, that is to say, Anathema.

4. And they marched from mount Hor, by the way that leadeth to the Red Sea, to compass the land of Edom. And the people began to be weary of their journey and labour:

5. And speaking against God end Moses, they said: Why didst thou bring us out of Egypt, to die in the wilderness? There is no bread, nor have we any waters: our soul now loatheth this very light food.

6. Wherefore the Lord sent among the people fiery serpents, which bit them and killed many of them.

7. Upon which they came to Moses, and said: We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord and thee: pray that he may take away these serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.

8. And the Lord said to him: Make brazen serpent, and set it up for a sign: whosoever being struck shall look on it, shall live.

9. Moses therefore made a brazen serpent, and set it up for a sign: which when they that were bitten looked upon, they were healed.

10. And the children of Israel setting forwards camped in Oboth.

11. And departing thence they pitched their tents in Jeabarim, in the wilderness, that faceth Moab toward the east.

12. And removing from thence, they came to the torrent Zared:

13. Which they left and encamped over against Arnon, which is in the desert and standeth out on the borders of the Amorrhite. For Arnon is the border of Moab, dividing the Moabites and the Amorrhites.

14. Wherefore it is said in the book of the wars of the Lord: As he did in the Red Sea, so will he do in the streams of Amen.

15. The rocks of the torrents were bowed down that they might rest in Ar, and lie down in the borders of the Moabites.

16. When they went from that place, the well appeared whereof the Lord said to Moses: Gather the people together, and I will give them water.

17. Then Israel sung this song: Let the well spring up. They sung thereto:

18. The well, which the princes dug, and the chiefs of the people prepared by the direction of the lawgiver, and with their staves. And they marched from the wilderness to Mathana.

19. From Mathana unto Nahaliel: from Nahaliel unto Bamoth.

20. From Bamoth, is a valley in the country of Moab, to the top of Phasga, which looked towards the desert.

21. And Israel sent messengers to Sehon king of the Amorrhites, saying:

22. I beseech thee that I may have leave to pass through thy land: we will not go aside into the fields or the vineyards, we will not drink waters of the wells, we will go the king's highway, till we be past thy borders.

23. And he would not grant that Israel should pass by his borders: but rather gathering an army, went forth to meet them in the desert, and came to Jasa, and fought against them.

24. And he was slain by them with the edge of the sword, and they possessed his land from the Arnon unto the Jeboc, and to the confines of the children of Ammon: for the borders of the Ammonites, were kept with a strong garrison.

25. So Israel took all his cities, and dwelt in the cities of the Amorrhite, to wit, in Hesebon, and in the villages thereof.

26. Hesebon was the city of Sehon the king of the Amorrhites, who fought against the king of Moab: and took all the land, that had been of his dominions, as far as the Arnon.

27. Therefore it is said in the proverb: Come into Hesebon, let the city of Sehon be built and set up:

28. A fire is gone out of Hesebon, a flame from the city of Sehon, and hath consumed Ar of the Moabites, and the inhabitants of the high places of the Arnon.

29. Woe to thee Moab: thou art undone, O people of Chamos. He hath given his sons to flight, and his daughters into captivity to Sehon the king of the Amorrhites.

30. Their yoke is perished from Hesebon unto Dibon, they came weary to Nophe, and unto Medaba.

31. So Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorrhite.

32. And Moses sent some to take a view of Jazer: and they took the villages of it, and conquered the inhabitants.

33. And they turned themselves, and went up by the way of Basan, and Og the king of Basan came against them with all his people, to fight in Edrai.

34. And the Lord said to Moses: Fear him not, for I have delivered him and all his people, and his country into thy hand: and thou shalt do to him as thou didst to Sehon the king of the Amorrhites, the inhabitant of Hesebon.

35. So they slew him also with his sons, and all his people, not letting any one escape, and they possessed his land.

1. Thou shalt not pass by if thou seest thy brother's ox, or his sheep go astray: but thou shalt bring them back to thy brother.

2. And if thy brother be not nigh, or thou know him not: thou shalt bring them to thy house, and they shall be with thee until thy brother seek them, and receive them.

3. Thou shalt do in like manner with his ass, and with his raiment, and with every thing that is thy brother's, which is lost: if thou find it, neglect it not as pertaining to another.

4. If thou see thy brother's ass or his ox to be fallen down in the way, thou shalt not slight it, but shalt lift it up with him.

5. A woman shall not be clothed with man's apparel, neither shall a man use woman's apparel : for he that doeth these things is abominable before God.

6. If thou find as thou walkest by the way, a bird's nest in a tree, or on the ground, and the dam sitting upon the young or upon the eggs: thou shalt not take her with her young:

7. But shalt let her go, keeping the young which thou hast caught: that it may be well with thee, and thou mayst live a long time.

8. When thou buildest a new house, thou shalt make a battlement to the roof round about: lest blood be shed in thy house, and thou be guilty, if any one slip, and fall down headlong.

9. Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with divers seeds: lest both the seed which thou hast sown, and the fruit of the vineyard, be sanctified together.

10. Thou shalt not plough with an ox and an ass together.

11. Thou shalt not wear a garment that is woven of woollen and linen together.

12. Thou shalt make strings in the hem at the four corners of thy cloak, wherewith thou shalt be covered.

13. If a man marry a wife, and afterwards hate her,

14. And seek occasions to put her away, laying to her charge a very ill name, and say: I took this woman to wife, and going in to her, I found her not a virgin:

15. Her father and mother shall take her, and shall bring with them the tokens of her virginity to the ancients of the city that are in the gate:

16. And the father shall say: I gave my daughter unto this man to wife: and because he hateth her,

17. He layeth to her charge a very ill name, so as to say: I found not thy daughter a virgin: and behold these are the tokens of my daughter's virginity. And they shall spread the cloth before the ancients of the city:

18. And the ancients of that city shall take that man, and beat him,

19. Condemning him besides in a hundred sides of silver, which he shall give to the damsel's father, because he hath defamed by a very ill name a virgin of Israel: and he shall have her to wife, and may not put her away all the days of his life.

20. But if what he charged her with be true, and virginity be not found in the damsel:

21. They shall cast her out of the doors of her father's house, and the men of the city shall stone her to death, and she shall die: because she hath done a wicked thing in Israel, to play the whore in her father's house: and thou shalt take away the evil out of the midst of thee.

22. If a man lie with another man's wife, they shall both die, that is to say, the adulterer and the adulteress: and thou shalt take away the evil out of Israel.

23. If a man have espoused a damsel that is a virgin, and some one find her in the city, and lie with her,

24. Thou shalt bring them both out to the gate of that city, and they shall be stoned: the damsel, because she cried not out, being in the city: the man, because he hath humbled his neighbour's wife. And thou shalt take away the evil from the midst of thee.

25. But if a man find a damsel that is betrothed, in the field, and taking hold of her, lie with her, he alone shall die:

26. The damsel shall suffer nothing, neither is she guilty of death : for as a robber riseth against his brother, and taketh away his life, so also did the damsel suffer:

27. She was alone in the field: she cried, and there was no man to help her.

28. If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, who is not espoused, and taking her, lie with her, and the matter come to judgment :

29. He that lay with her shall give to the father of the maid fifty sides of silver, and shall have her to wife, because he hath humbled her: he may not put her away all the days of his life.

30. No man shall take his father's wife, nor remove his covering.

1. The prayer of the poor man, when he was anxious, and poured out his supplication before the Lord.

2. Hear, O Lord, my prayer: and let my cry come to thee.

3. Turn not away thy face from me: in the day when I am in trouble, incline thy ear to me. In what day soever I shall call upon thee, hear me speedily.

4. For my days are vanished like smoke: and my bones are grown dry like fuel for the fire.

5. I am smitten as grass, and my heart is withered: because I forgot to eat my bread.

6. Through the voice of my groaning, my bone hath cleaved to my flesh.

7. I am become like to a pelican of the wilderness: I am like a night raven in the house.

8. I have watched, and am become as a sparrow all alone on the housetop.

9. All the day long my enemies reproached me: and they that praised me did swear against me.

10. For I did eat ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping.

11. Because of thy anger and indignation: for having lifted me up thou hast thrown me down.

12. My days have declined like a shadow, and I am withered like grass.

13. But thou, O Lord, endurest for ever: and thy memorial to all generations.

14. Thou shalt arise and have mercy on Sion: for it is time to have mercy on it, for the time is come.

15. For the stones thereof have pleased thy servants: and they shall have pity on the earth thereof.

16. And the Gentiles shall fear thy name, O Lord, and all the kings of the earth thy glory.

17. For the Lord hath built up Sion: and he shall be seen in his glory.

18. He hath had regard to the prayer of the humble: and he hath not despised their petition.

19. Let these things be written unto another generation: and the people that shall be created shall praise the Lord:

20. Because he hath looked forth from his high sanctuary: from heaven the Lord hath looked upon the earth.

21. That he might hear the groans of them that are in fetters: that he might release the children of the slain:

22. That they may declare the name of the Lord in Sion: and his praise in Jerusalem;

23. When the people assemble together, and kings, to serve the Lord.

24. He answered him in the way of his strength: Declare unto me the fewness of my days.

25. Call me not away in the midst of my days: thy years are unto generation and generation.

26. In the beginning, O Lord, thou foundedst the earth: end the heavens are the works of thy hands.

27. They shall perish but thou remainest: and all of them shall grow old like a garment: And as a vesture thou shalt change them, and they shall be changed.

28. But thou art always the selfsame, and thy years shall not fail.

29. The children of thy servants shall continue: and their seed shall be directed for ever.