Today's Bible Reading, Tuesday 6th March 2018

 - NUMBERS 12 -

1.Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married; for he had married an Ethiopian woman.

2.So they said, “Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us also?” And the Lord heard it.

3.(Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth.)

4.Suddenly the Lord said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, “Come out, you three, to the tabernacle of meeting!” So the three came out.

5.Then the Lord came down in the pillar of cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam. And they both went forward.

6.Then He said, “Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, make Myself known to him in a vision; I speak to him in a dream.

7.Not so with My servant Moses; He is faithful in all My house.

8.I speak with him face to face, Even plainly, and not in dark sayings; And he sees the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid To speak against My servant Moses?”

9.So the anger of the Lord was aroused against them, and He departed.

10.And when the cloud departed from above the tabernacle, suddenly Miriam became leprous, as white as snow. Then Aaron turned toward Miriam, and there she was, a leper.

11.So Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord! Please do not lay this sin on us, in which we have done foolishly and in which we have sinned.

12.Please do not let her be as one dead, whose flesh is half consumed when he comes out of his mother’s womb!”

13.So Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, “Please heal her, O God, I pray!”

14.Then the Lord said to Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, would she not be shamed seven days? Let her be shut out of the camp seven days, and afterward she may be received again.”

15.So Miriam was shut out of the camp seven days, and the people did not journey till Miriam was brought in again.

16.And afterward the people moved from Hazeroth and camped in the Wilderness of Paran.


 - NUMBERS 13 -

1.And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

2.“Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel; from each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a leader among them.”

3.So Moses sent them from the Wilderness of Paran according to the command of the Lord, all of them men who were heads of the children of Israel.

4.Now these were their names: from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur;

5.from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori;

6.from the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh;

7.from the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph;

8.from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Nun;

9.from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu;

10.from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi;

11.from the tribe of Joseph, that is, from the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi;

12.from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli;

13.from the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael;

14.from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi;

15.from the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi.

16.These are the names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun, Joshua.

17.Then Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said to them, “Go up this way into the South, and go up to the mountains,

18.and see what the land is like: whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak, few or many;

19.whether the land they dwell in is good or bad; whether the cities they inhabit are like camps or strongholds;

20.whether the land is rich or poor; and whether there are forests there or not. Be of good courage. And bring some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the season of the first ripe grapes.

21.So they went up and spied out the land from the Wilderness of Zin as far as Rehob, near the entrance of Hamath.

22.And they went up through the South and came to Hebron; Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, were there. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)

23.Then they came to the Valley of Eshcol, and there cut down a branch with one cluster of grapes; they carried it between two of them on a pole. They also brought some of the pomegranates and figs.

24.The place was called the Valley of Eshcol, because of the cluster which the men of Israel cut down there.

25.And they returned from spying out the land after forty days.

26.Now they departed and came back to Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel in the Wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; they brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land.

27.Then they told him, and said: “We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.

28.Nevertheless the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there.

29.The Amalekites dwell in the land of the South; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountains; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan.”

30.Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.”

31.But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.”

32.And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature.

33.There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”



- II CORINTHIANS 1:12 - 2:11 -

 12.For our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience that we conducted ourselves in the world in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God, and more abundantly toward you.

13.For we are not writing any other things to you than what you read or understand. Now I trust you will understand, even to the end

14.(as also you have understood us in part), that we are your boast as you also are ours, in the day of the Lord Jesus.

15.And in this confidence I intended to come to you before, that you might have a second benefit—

16.to pass by way of you to Macedonia, to come again from Macedonia to you, and be helped by you on my way to Judea.

17.Therefore, when I was planning this, did I do it lightly? Or the things I plan, do I plan according to the flesh, that with me there should be Yes, Yes, and No, No?

18.But as God is faithful, our word to you was not Yes and No.

19.For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me, Silvanus, and Timothy—was not Yes and No, but in Him was Yes.

20.For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.

21.Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God,

22.who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.

23.Moreover I call God as witness against my soul, that to spare you I came no more to Corinth.

24.Not that we have dominion over your faith, but are fellow workers for your joy; for by faith you stand.

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1 .But I determined this within myself, that I would not come again to you in sorrow.

2.For if I make you sorrowful, then who is he who makes me glad but the one who is made sorrowful by me?

3.And I wrote this very thing to you, lest, when I came, I should have sorrow over those from whom I ought to have joy, having confidence in you all that my joy is the joy of you all.

4.For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you, with many tears, not that you should be grieved, but that you might know the love which I have so abundantly for you.

5.But if anyone has caused grief, he has not grieved me, but all of you to some extent—not to be too severe.

6.This punishment which was inflicted by the majority is sufficient for such a man,

7.so that, on the contrary, you ought rather to forgive and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with too much sorrow.

8.Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love to him.

9.For to this end I also wrote, that I might put you to the test, whether you are obedient in all things.

10.Now whom you forgive anything, I also forgive. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ,

11.lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices.

Today’s Bible Readings

- NUMBERS 10 -

1.And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

2.“Make two silver trumpets for yourself; you shall make them of hammered work; you shall use them for calling the congregation and for directing the movement of the camps.

3.When they blow both of them, all the congregation shall gather before you at the door of the tabernacle of meeting.

4.But if they blow only one, then the leaders, the heads of the divisions of Israel, shall gather to you.

5.When you sound the advance, the camps that lie on the east side shall then begin their journey.

6.When you sound the advance the second time, then the camps that lie on the south side shall begin their journey; they shall sound the call for them to begin their journeys.

7.And when the assembly is to be gathered together, you shall blow, but not sound the advance.

8.The sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow the trumpets; and these shall be to you as an ordinance forever throughout your generations.

9.“When you go to war in your land against the enemy who oppresses you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets, and you will be remembered before the Lord your God, and you will be saved from your enemies.

10.Also in the day of your gladness, in your appointed feasts, and at the beginning of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; and they shall be a memorial for you before your God: I am the Lord your God.”

11.Now it came to pass on the twentieth day of the second month, in the second year, that the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle of the Testimony.

12.And the children of Israel set out from the Wilderness of Sinai on their journeys; then the cloud settled down in the Wilderness of Paran.

13.So they started out for the first time according to the command of the Lord by the hand of Moses.

14.The standard of the camp of the children of Judah set out first according to their armies; over their army was Nahshon the son of Amminadab.

15.Over the army of the tribe of the children of Issachar was Nethanel the son of Zuar.

16.And over the army of the tribe of the children of Zebulun was Eliab the son of Helon.

17.Then the tabernacle was taken down; and the sons of Gershon and the sons of Merari set out, carrying the tabernacle.

18.And the standard of the camp of Reuben set out according to their armies; over their army was Elizur the son of Shedeur.

19.Over the army of the tribe of the children of Simeon was Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai.

20.And over the army of the tribe of the children of Gad was Eliasaph the son of Deuel.

21.Then the Kohathites set out, carrying the holy things. (The tabernacle would be prepared for their arrival.)

22.And the standard of the camp of the children of Ephraim set out according to their armies; over their army was Elishama the son of Ammihud.

23.Over the army of the tribe of the children of Manasseh was Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur.

24.And over the army of the tribe of the children of Benjamin was Abidan the son of Gideoni.

25.Then the standard of the camp of the children of Dan (the rear guard of all the camps) set out according to their armies; over their army was Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai.

26.Over the army of the tribe of the children of Asher was Pagiel the son of Ocran.

27.And over the army of the tribe of the children of Naphtali was Ahira the son of Enan.

28.Thus was the order of march of the children of Israel, according to their armies, when they began their journey.

29.Now Moses said to Hobab the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, “We are setting out for the place of which the Lord said, ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us, and we will treat you well; for the Lord has promised good things to Israel.”

30.And he said to him, “I will not go, but I will depart to my own land and to my relatives.”

31.So Moses said, “Please do not leave, inasmuch as you know how we are to camp in the wilderness, and you can be our eyes.

32.And it shall be, if you go with us—indeed it shall be—that whatever good the Lord will do to us, the same we will do to you.”

33.So they departed from the mountain of the Lord on a journey of three days; and the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them for the three days’ journey, to search out a resting place for them.

34.And the cloud of the Lord was above them by day when they went out from the camp.

35.So it was, whenever the ark set out, that Moses said: “Rise up, O Lord! Let Your enemies be scattered, And let those who hate You flee before You.”

36.And when it rested, he said: “Return, O Lord, To the many thousands of Israel.”

– NUMBERS 11 -

1.Now when the people complained, it displeased the Lord; for the Lord heard it, and His anger was aroused. So the fire of the Lord burned among them, and consumed some in the outskirts of the camp.

2.Then the people cried out to Moses, and when Moses prayed to the Lord, the fire was quenched.

3.So he called the name of the place Taberah, because the fire of the Lord had burned among them.

4.Now the mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving; so the children of Israel also wept again and said: “Who will give us meat to eat?

5.We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic;

6.but now our whole being is dried up; there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes!”

7.Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its color like the color of bdellium.

8.The people went about and gathered it, ground it on millstones or beat it in the mortar, cooked it in pans, and made cakes of it; and its taste was like the taste of pastry prepared with oil.

9.And when the dew fell on the camp in the night, the manna fell on it.

10.Then Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, everyone at the door of his tent; and the anger of the Lord was greatly aroused; Moses also was displeased.

11.So Moses said to the Lord, “Why have You afflicted Your servant? And why have I not found favor in Your sight, that You have laid the burden of all these people on me?

12.Did I conceive all these people? Did I beget them, that You should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a guardian carries a nursing child,’ to the land which You swore to their fathers?

13.Where am I to get meat to give to all these people? For they weep all over me, saying, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat.’

14.I am not able to bear all these people alone, because the burden is too heavy for me.

15.If You treat me like this, please kill me here and now—if I have found favor in Your sight—and do not let me see my wretchedness!”

16.So the Lord said to Moses: “Gather to Me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them; bring them to the tabernacle of meeting, that they may stand there with you.

17.Then I will come down and talk with you there. I will take of the Spirit that is upon you and will put the same upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, that you may not bear it yourself alone.

18.Then you shall say to the people, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat; for you have wept in the hearing of the Lord, saying, “Who will give us meat to eat? For it was well with us in Egypt.” Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you shall eat.

19.You shall eat, not one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days,

20.but for a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you have despised the Lord who is among you, and have wept before Him, saying, “Why did we ever come up out of Egypt?”’”

21.And Moses said, “The people whom I am among are six hundred thousand men on foot; yet You have said, ‘I will give them meat, that they may eat for a whole month.’

22.Shall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, to provide enough for them? Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to provide enough for them?”

23.And the Lord said to Moses, “Has the Lord’s arm been shortened? Now you shall see whether what I say will happen to you or not.”

24.So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord, and he gathered the seventy men of the elders of the people and placed them around the tabernacle.

25.Then the Lord came down in the cloud, and spoke to him, and took of the Spirit that was upon him, and placed the same upon the seventy elders; and it happened, when the Spirit rested upon them, that they prophesied, although they never did so again.

26.But two men had remained in the camp: the name of one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad. And the Spirit rested upon them. Now they were among those listed, but who had not gone out to the tabernacle; yet they prophesied in the camp.

 

27.And a young man ran and told Moses, and said, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.”

28.So Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, one of his choice men, answered and said, “Moses my lord, forbid them!”

29.Then Moses said to him, “Are you zealous for my sake? Oh, that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!”

30.And Moses returned to the camp, he and the elders of Israel.

31.Now a wind went out from the Lord, and it brought quail from the sea and left them fluttering near the camp, about a day’s journey on this side and about a day’s journey on the other side, all around the camp, and about two cubits above the surface of the ground.

32.And the people stayed up all that day, all night, and all the next day, and gathered the quail (he who gathered least gathered ten homers); and they spread them out for themselves all around the camp.

33.But while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the wrath of the Lord was aroused against the people, and the Lord struck the people with a very great plague.

34.So he called the name of that place Kibroth Hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had yielded to craving.

35.From Kibroth Hattaavah the people moved to Hazeroth, and camped at Hazeroth.

- II Corinthians 1:1-11-

1.Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in all Achaia:

2.Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

3.Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,

4.who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

5.For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ.

6.Now if we are afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effective for enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer. Or if we are comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.

7.And our hope for you is steadfast, because we know that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also you will partake of the consolation.

8.For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life.

9.Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead,

10.who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us,

11.you also helping together in prayer for us, that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the gift granted to us through many.

(NKJV)