May 4 Reading

9:1 And the LORD spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, “Let the people of Israel keep the Passover at its appointed time. On the fourteenth day of this month, at twilight, you shall keep it at its appointed time; according to all its statutes and all its rules you shall keep it.” So Moses told the people of Israel that they should keep the Passover. And they kept the Passover in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight, in the wilderness of Sinai; according to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so the people of Israel did. And there were certain men who were unclean through touching a dead body, so that they could not keep the Passover on that day, and they came before Moses and Aaron on that day. And those men said to him, “We are unclean through touching a dead body. Why are we kept from bringing the LORD’s offering at its appointed time among the people of Israel?” And Moses said to them, “Wait, that I may hear what the LORD will command concerning you.”

The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, If any one of you or of your descendants is unclean through touching a dead body, or is on a long journey, he shall still keep the Passover to the LORD. In the second month on the fourteenth day at twilight they shall keep it. They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. They shall leave none of it until the morning, nor break any of its bones; according to all the statute for the Passover they shall keep it. But if anyone who is clean and is not on a journey fails to keep the Passover, that person shall be cut off from his people because he did not bring the LORD’s offering at its appointed time; that man shall bear his sin. And if a stranger sojourns among you and would keep the Passover to the LORD, according to the statute of the Passover and according to its rule, so shall he do. You shall have one statute, both for the sojourner and for the native.”

On the day that the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony. And at evening it was over the tabernacle like the appearance of fire until morning. So it was always: the cloud covered it by day and the appearance of fire by night. And whenever the cloud lifted from over the tent, after that the people of Israel set out, and in the place where the cloud settled down, there the people of Israel camped. At the command of the LORD the people of Israel set out, and at the command of the LORD they camped. As long as the cloud rested over the tabernacle, they remained in camp. Even when the cloud continued over the tabernacle many days, the people of Israel kept the charge of the LORD and did not set out. Sometimes the cloud was a few days over the tabernacle, and according to the command of the LORD they remained in camp; then according to the command of the LORD they set out. And sometimes the cloud remained from evening until morning. And when the cloud lifted in the morning, they set out, or if it continued for a day and a night, when the cloud lifted they set out. Whether it was two days, or a month, or a longer time, that the cloud continued over the tabernacle, abiding there, the people of Israel remained in camp and did not set out, but when it lifted they set out. At the command of the LORD they camped, and at the command of the LORD they set out. They kept the charge of the LORD, at the command of the LORD by Moses.

106:1   Praise the LORD!
  Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,
    for his steadfast love endures forever!
  Who can utter the mighty deeds of the LORD,
    or declare all his praise?
  Blessed are they who observe justice,
    who do righteousness at all times!
  Remember me, O LORD, when you show favor to your people;
    help me when you save them,
  that I may look upon the prosperity of your chosen ones,
    that I may rejoice in the gladness of your nation,
    that I may glory with your inheritance.
  Both we and our fathers have sinned;
    we have committed iniquity; we have done wickedness.
  Our fathers, when they were in Egypt,
    did not consider your wondrous works;
  they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love,
    but rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea.
  Yet he saved them for his name’s sake,
    that he might make known his mighty power.
  He rebuked the Red Sea, and it became dry,
    and he led them through the deep as through a desert.
  So he saved them from the hand of the foe
    and redeemed them from the power of the enemy.
  And the waters covered their adversaries;
    not one of them was left.
  Then they believed his words;
    they sang his praise.
  But they soon forgot his works;
    they did not wait for his counsel.
  But they had a wanton craving in the wilderness,
    and put God to the test in the desert;
  he gave them what they asked,
    but sent a wasting disease among them.
  When men in the camp were jealous of Moses
    and Aaron, the holy one of the LORD,
  the earth opened and swallowed up Dathan,
    and covered the company of Abiram.
  Fire also broke out in their company;
    the flame burned up the wicked.
  They made a calf in Horeb
    and worshiped a metal image.
  They exchanged the glory of God
    for the image of an ox that eats grass.
  They forgot God, their Savior,
    who had done great things in Egypt,
  wondrous works in the land of Ham,
    and awesome deeds by the Red Sea.
  Therefore he said he would destroy them—
    had not Moses, his chosen one,
  stood in the breach before him,
    to turn away his wrath from destroying them.
  Then they despised the pleasant land,
    having no faith in his promise.
  They murmured in their tents,
    and did not obey the voice of the LORD.
  Therefore he raised his hand and swore to them
    that he would make them fall in the wilderness,
  and would make their offspring fall among the nations,
    scattering them among the lands.
  Then they yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor,
    and ate sacrifices offered to the dead;
  they provoked the LORD to anger with their deeds,
    and a plague broke out among them.
  Then Phinehas stood up and intervened,
    and the plague was stayed.
  And that was counted to him as righteousness
    from generation to generation forever.
  They angered him at the waters of Meribah,
    and it went ill with Moses on their account,
  for they made his spirit bitter,
    and he spoke rashly with his lips.
  They did not destroy the peoples,
    as the LORD commanded them,
  but they mixed with the nations
    and learned to do as they did.
  They served their idols,
    which became a snare to them.
  They sacrificed their sons
    and their daughters to the demons;
  they poured out innocent blood,
    the blood of their sons and daughters,
  whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan,
    and the land was polluted with blood.
  Thus they became unclean by their acts,
    and played the whore in their deeds.
  Then the anger of the LORD was kindled against his people,
    and he abhorred his heritage;
  he gave them into the hand of the nations,
    so that those who hated them ruled over them.
  Their enemies oppressed them,
    and they were brought into subjection under their power.
  Many times he delivered them,
    but they were rebellious in their purposes
    and were brought low through their iniquity.
  Nevertheless, he looked upon their distress,
    when he heard their cry.
  For their sake he remembered his covenant,
    and relented according to the abundance of his steadfast love.
  He caused them to be pitied
    by all those who held them captive.
  Save us, O LORD our God,
    and gather us from among the nations,
  that we may give thanks to your holy name
    and glory in your praise.
  Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel,
    from everlasting to everlasting!
  And let all the people say, “Amen!”
    Praise the LORD!