Bible in a Year.

On the fifty-ninth day, Numbers 8-9 speaks of the purification of the Levites and the celebration of Passover in the wilderness, recalling God's faithfulness in guiding His people. In Deuteronomy 8, Moses recalls the lessons of the pilgrimage and warns against the pride that comes with prosperity. Psalm 93 proclaims the Lord's eternal reign, firm and unshakable. The readings emphasize gratitude, dependence, and reverence for the God who sustains and rules over all.

Chapter 8

1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

2. Speak to Aaron, and thou shalt say to him: When thou shalt place the seven lamps, let the candlestick be set up on the south side. Give orders therefore that the lamps look over against the north, towards the table of the leaves of proposition, over against that part shall they give light, towards which the candlestick looketh.

3. And Aaron did so, and he put the lamps upon the candlestick, as the Lord had commanded Moses.

4. Now this was the work of the candlestick, it was of beaten gold, both the shaft in the middle, and all that came out of both sides of the branches: according to the pattern which the Lord had shewn to Moses, so he made the candlestick.

5. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying :

6. Take the Levites out of the midst of the children of Israel, and thou shalt purify them,

7. According to this rite: Let them be sprinkled with the water of purification, and let them shave all the hairs of their flesh. And when they shall have washed their garments, and are cleansed,

8. They shall take an ox of the herd, and for the offering thereof fine flour tempered with oil: and thou shalt take another ox of the herd for a sin offering:

9. And thou shalt bring the Levites before the tabernacle of the covenant, calling together all the multitude of the children of Israel:

10. And when the Levites are before the Lord, the children of Israel shall put their hands upon them:

11. And Aaron shall offer the Levites, as a gift in the sight of the Lord from the children of Israel, that they may serve in his ministry.

12. The Levites also shall put their hands upon the heads of the oxen, of which thou shalt sacrifice one for sin, and the other for a holocaust to the Lord, to pray for them.

13. And thou shalt set the Levites in the sight of Aaron and of his sons, and shalt consecrate them being offered to the Lord,

14. And shalt separate them from the midst of the children of Israel, to be mine.

15. And afterwards they shall enter into the tabernacle of the covenant, to serve me. And thus shalt thou purify and consecrate them for an oblation of the Lord: for as a gift they were given me by the children of Israel.

16. I have taken them instead of the firstborn that open every womb in Israel,

17. For all the firstborn of the children of Israel, both of men and of beasts, are mine. From the day that I slew every firstborn in the land of Egypt, have I sanctified them to myself:

18. And I have taken the Levites for all the firstborn of the children of Israel:

19. And have delivered them for a gift to Aaron and his sons out of the midst of the people, to serve me for Israel in the tabernacle of the covenant, and to pray for them, lest there should be a plague among the people, if they should presume to approach unto my sanctuary.

20. And Moses and Aaron and all the multitude of the children of Israel did with the Levites all that the Lord had commanded Moses:

21. And they were purified, and washed their garments. And Aaron lifted them up in the sight of the Lard, and prayed for them,

22. That being purified they might go into the tabernacle of the covenant to do their services before Aaron and his sons. As the Lord had commanded Moses touching the Levites, so was it done.

23. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

24. This is the law of the Levites: From twenty-five years old and upwards, they shall go in to minister in the tabernacle of the covenant.

25. And when they shall have accomplished the fiftieth year of their age, they shall cease to serve:

26. And they shall be the ministers of their brethren in the tabernacle of the covenant, to keep the things that are committed to their care, but not to do the works. Thus shalt thou order the Levites touching their charge.

Chapter 9

1. The Lord spoke to Moses in the desert of Sinai, the second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt, in the first month, saying:

2. Let the children of Israel make the phase in its due time,

3. The fourteenth day of this month in the evening, according to all the ceremonies and justifications thereof.

4. And Moses commanded the children of Israel that they should make the phase.

5. And they made it in its proper time: the fourteenth day of the month at evening, in mount Sinai. The children of Israel did according to all things that the Lord had commanded Moses.

6. But behold some who were unclean by occasion of the soul of a men, who could not make the phase on that day, coming to Moses and Aaron,

7. Said to them: We are unclean by occasion of the soul of a man. Why are we kept back that we may not offer in its season the offering to the Lord among the children of Israel?

8. And Moses answered them: Stay that I may consult the Lord what he will ordain concerning you.

9. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

10. Say to the children of Israel: The man that shall be unclean by occasion of one that is dead, or shall be in a journey afar off in your nation, let him make the phase to the Lord.

11. In the second month, on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening, they shall eat it with unleavened bread and wild lettuce:

12. They shall not leave any thing thereof until morning, a nor break a bone thereof, they shall observe all the ceremonies of the phase.

13. But if any man is clean, and was not on a journey, and did not make the phase, that soul shall be cut off from among his people, because he offered not sacrifice to the Lord in due season: he shall bear his sin.

14. The sojourner also and the stranger if they be among you, shall make the phase to the Lord according to the ceremonies and justifications thereof. The same ordinance shall be with you both for the stranger, and for him that was born in the land.

15. Now on the day that the tabernacle was reared up, a cloud covered it. But from the evening there was over the tabernacle, as it were, the appearance of fire until the morning.

16. So it was always: by day the cloud covered it, and by night as it were the appearance of fire.

17. And when the cloud that covered the tabernacle was taken up, then the children of Israel marched forward: and in the place where the cloud stood still, there they camped.

18. At the commandment of the Lord they marched, and at his commandment they pitched the tabernacle. All the days that the cloud abode over the tabernacle, they remained in the same place:

19. And if it was so that it continued over it a long time, the children of Israel kept the watches of the Lord, and marched not,

20. For as many days soever as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle. At the commandment of the Lord they pitched their tents, and at his commandment they took them down.

21. If the cloud tarried from evening until morning, and immediately at break of day left the tabernacle, they marched forward: and if it departed after a day and a night, they took down their tents.

22. But if it remained over the tabernacle for two days or a month or a longer time, the children of Israel remained in the same place, and marched not: but immediately as soon as it departed, they removed the camp.

23. By the word of the Lord they pitched their tents, and by his word they marched: and kept the watches of the Lord according to his commandment by the hand of Moses.

1. All the commandments, that I command thee this day, take great care to observe: that you may live, and be multiplied, and going in may possess the land, for which the Lord swore to your fathers.

2. And thou shalt remember all the way through which the Lord thy God hath brought thee for forty years through the desert, to afflict thee and to prove thee, and that the things that were in thy heart might be made known, whether thou wouldst keep his commandments or no.

3. He afflicted thee with want, and gave thee manna for thy food, which neither thou nor thy fathers knew: to shew that m not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God.

4. Thy raiment, with which thou wast covered, hath not decayed for age, and thy foot is not worn, lo this is the fortieth year,

5. That thou mayst consider in thy heart, that as a man traineth up his son, so the Lord thy God hath trained thee up.

6. That thou shouldst keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways, and fear him.

7. For the Lord thy God will bring thee into a good land, of brooks and of waters, and of fountains: in the plains of which and the hills deep rivers break out:

8. A land of wheat, and barley, and vineyards, wherein fig trees and pomegranates, and oliveyards grow: a land of oil and honey.

9. Where without any want thou shalt eat thy bread, and enjoy abundance of all things: where the stones are iron, and out of its hills are dug mines of brass:

10. That when thou hast eaten, and art full, thou mayst bless the Lord thy God for the excellent land which he hath given thee.

11. Take heed, and beware lest at any time thou forget the Lord thy God, and neglect his commandments and judgments and ceremonies, which I command thee this day:

12. Lest after thou hast eaten and art filled, hast built goodly houses, and dwelt in them,

13. And shalt have herds of oxen and flocks of sheep, and plenty of gold and of silver, and of all things,

14. Thy heart be lifted up, and thou remember not the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage:

15. And was thy leader in the great and terrible wilderness, wherein there was the serpent burning with his breath, and the scorpion and the dipsas, and no waters at all: who brought forth streams out of the hardest rock,

16. And fed thee in the wilderness with manna which thy fathers knew not. And after he had afflicted and proved thee, at the last he had mercy on thee,

17. Lest thou shouldst say in thy heart: My own might, and the strength of my own hand have achieved all these things for me.

18. But remember the Lord thy God, that he hath given thee strength, that he might fulfil his covenant, concerning which he swore to thy fathers, as this present day sheweth.

19. But if thou forget the Lord thy God, and follow strange gods, and serve and adore them: behold now I foretell thee that thou shalt utterly perish.

20. As the nations, which the Lord destroyed at thy entrance, so shall you also perish, if you be disobedient to the voice of the Lord your God.

1. The Lord hath reigned, he is clothed with beauty: the Lord is clothed with strength, and hath girded himself. For he hath established the world which shall not be moved.

2. Thy throne is prepared from of old: thou art from everlasting.

3. The floods have lifted up, O Lord: the floods have lifted up their voice. The floods have lifted up their waves,

4. with the noise of many waters. Wonderful are the surges of the sea: wonderful is the Lord on high.

5. Thy testimonies are become exceedingly credible: holiness becometh thy house, O Lord, unto length of days.