Today's Readings and Stuff -- Sunday, 24 February 2019

I just hit ONE wrong key, and lost everything , quite a bit, that had been here.  I'm more than a bit aggravated.

O Master Let Me Walk With Thee.

1. O Master, let me walk with thee in lowly paths of service free; tell me thy secret; help me bear the strain of toil, the fret of care. 2. Help me the slow of heart to move by some clear, winning word of love; teach me the wayward feet to stay, and guide them in the homeward way. 3. Teach me thy patience; still with thee in closer, dearer company, in work that keeps faith sweet and strong, in trust that triumphs over wrong; 4. In hope that sends a shining ray far down the future's broadening way, in peace that only thou canst give, with thee, O Master, let me live.

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Leviticus 19 and 20 go here.  Lots of stuff here, some of it seems pretty gross and in the "nobody would do that!" group.  Except that people in that region were doing that, many still do, and there's probably more than a little bit of it in your town at that.  Some of these prohibitions are rarely mentioned even in many churches these days, such as the pretty forthright prohibitions of homosexual practices.  Even being "celebrated" in some denominations, and practiced by some in the pulpit and other positions of leadership.  Not a good thing.

Leviticus 19

1The Lord spoke to Moses: 2“Speak to the entire Israelite community and tell them: Be holy  because I, Yahweh your God, am holy. 

3“Each of you is to respect his mother and father.  You are to keep My Sabbaths; I am Yahweh your God. 4Do not turn to idols  or make cast images  of gods for yourselves;  I am Yahweh your God.

5“When you offer a fellowship sacrifice to the Lord, sacrifice it so that you may be accepted. 6It is to be eaten on the day you sacrifice it or on the next day, but what remains on the third day must be burned up.  7If any is eaten on the third day, it is a repulsive thing; it will not be accepted.  8Anyone who eats it will bear his punishment, for he has profaned what is holy to the Lord. That person must be cut off from his people. 

9“When you reap the harvest of your land, you are not to reap to the very edge of your field or gather the gleanings  of your harvest. 10You must not strip your vineyard bare or gather its fallen grapes. Leave them for the poor  and the foreign resident;  I am Yahweh your God.

11“You must not steal.  You must not act deceptively  or lie  to one another. 12You must not swear falsely by My name, profaning the name of your God;  I am Yahweh.

13“You must not oppress  your neighbor or rob  him. The wages due a hired hand  must not remain with you until morning. 14You must not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind,  but you are to fear your God;  I am Yahweh. 

15“You must not act unjustly  when deciding a case. Do not be partial  to the poor or give preference to the rich;  judge your neighbor fairly. 16You must not go about spreading slander  among your people; you must not jeopardize  your neighbor’s life; I am Yahweh.

17“You must not harbor hatred against your brother.  Rebuke your neighbor directly, and you will not incur guilt because of him.  18Do not take revenge  or bear a grudge against members of your community, but love your neighbor as yourself;  I am Yahweh.

19“You are to keep My statutes. You must not crossbreed two different kinds of your livestock, sow your fields with two kinds of seed, or put on a garment made of two kinds of material. 

20“If a man has sexual intercourse with a woman who is a slave designated for another man, but she has not been redeemed or given her freedom, there must be punishment.  They are not to be put to death, because she had not been freed. 21However, he must bring a ram as his restitution offering to the Lord at the entrance to the tent of meeting.  22The priest will make atonement on his behalf before the Lord with the ram of the restitution offering for the sin he has committed, and he will be forgiven for the sin he committed.

23“When you come into the land and plant any kind of tree for food, you are to consider the fruit forbidden.  It will be forbidden to you for three years; it is not to be eaten. 24In the fourth year all its fruit must be consecrated as a praise offering  to the Lord. 25But in the fifth year you may eat its fruit. In this way its yield will increase for you;  I am Yahweh your God.

26“You are not to eat anything with blood in it.   You are not to practice divination  or sorcery.  27You are not to cut off the hair at the sides of your head or mar the edge of your beard.  28You are not to make gashes on your bodies for the dead  or put tattoo marks on yourselves; I am Yahweh.

29“Do not debase   your daughter by making her a prostitute,  or the land will be prostituted and filled with depravity. 30You must keep My Sabbaths and revere My sanctuary;  I am Yahweh.

31“Do not turn to mediums   or consult spiritists,   or you will be defiled by them; I am Yahweh your God.

32“You are to rise in the presence of the elderly and honor the old.  Fear your God; I am Yahweh.

33“When a foreigner lives with you in your land, you must not oppress  him. 34You must regard the foreigner who lives with you as the native-born among you. You are to love him as yourself,  for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt;  I am Yahweh your God.

35“You must not be unfair  in measurements of length, weight, or volume. 36You are to have honest balances,  honest weights, an honest dry measure,  and an honest liquid measure;   I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. 37You must keep all My statutes and all My ordinances and do them; I am Yahweh.”

Leviticus 20

1The Lord spoke to Moses: 2“Say to the Israelites: Any Israelite or foreigner living in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech  must be put to death; the people of the country are to stone him.  3I will turn  against that man and cut him off from his people, because he gave his offspring to Molech, defiling My sanctuary  and profaning My holy name.  4But if the people of the country look the other way when that man  gives any of his children to Molech, and do not put him to death, 5then I will turn  against that man and his family, and cut off from their people both him and all who follow  him in prostituting themselves with Molech.

6“Whoever turns to mediums   or spiritists  and prostitutes himself with them, I will turn  against that person and cut him off from his people. 7Consecrate yourselves and be holy, for I am Yahweh your God. 8Keep My statutes and do them; I am Yahweh who sets you apart.

9“If anyone curses his father or mother, he must be put to death.  He has cursed his father or mother; his blood is on his own hands. 

10If a man commits adultery  with a married woman — if he commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife — both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death. 11If a man sleeps with his father’s wife, he has shamed his father.  Both of them must be put to death; their blood is on their own hands.  12If a man sleeps with his daughter-in-law,  both of them must be put to death. They have acted perversely; their blood is on their own hands.  13If a man sleeps with a man as with a woman, they have both committed a detestable thing.  They must be put to death; their blood is on their own hands.  14If a man marries a woman and her mother,  it is depraved. Both he and they must be burned with fire,  so that there will be no depravity among you. 15If a man has sexual intercourse with  an animal, he must be put to death; you are also to kill the animal. 16If a woman comes near any animal and mates with it, you are to kill the woman and the animal.  They must be put to death; their own blood is on them. 17If a man marries his sister,  whether his father’s daughter or his mother’s daughter, and they have sexual relations,   it is a disgrace.  They must be cut off publicly from their people. He has had sexual intercourse with his sister; he will bear his punishment. 18If a man sleeps with a menstruating woman and has sexual intercourse with her, he has exposed the source of her flow, and she has uncovered the source of her blood.  Both of them must be cut off from their people. 19You must not have sexual intercourse with your mother’s sister or your father’s sister,  for it is exposing one’s own blood relative; both people will bear their punishment. 20If a man sleeps with his aunt, he has shamed his uncle;  they will bear their guilt and die childless. 21If a man marries his brother’s wife, it is impurity.  He has shamed his brother;  they will be childless.

22“You are to keep all My statutes and all My ordinances, and do them, so that the land where I am bringing you to live will not vomit you out.  23You must not follow the statutes of the nations I am driving out before you, for they did all these things, and I abhorred them.  24And I promised you: You will inherit their land, since I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey.  I am Yahweh your God who set you apart from the peoples. 25Therefore you must distinguish the clean animal from the unclean one, and the unclean bird from the clean one. Do not become contaminated  by any land animal, bird, or whatever crawls on the ground; I have set these apart as unclean for you.  26You are to be holy to Me because I, Yahweh, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be Mine. 

27A man or a woman who is  a medium or a spiritist must be put to death. They are to be stoned; their blood is on their own hands.”