Psalm 105; Numbers 5

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Psalm 105

Tell of All His Wondrous Works

tOh give thanks to the Lord; ucall upon his name;

vmake known his deeds among the peoples!

Sing to him, sing praises to him;

wtell of all his wondrous works!

Glory in his holy name;

let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice!

Seek the Lord and his xstrength;

yseek his presence continually!

Remember the zwondrous works that he has done,

his miracles, and athe judgments he uttered,

O offspring of bAbraham, his servant,

children of Jacob, his cchosen ones!

He is the Lord our God;

his djudgments are in all the earth.

He eremembers his covenant forever,

the word that he commanded, for fa thousand generations,

gthe covenant that he made with Abraham,

his hsworn promise to Isaac,

10  which he confirmed to iJacob as a statute,

to Israel as an everlasting covenant,

11  saying, jTo you I will give the land of Canaan

as kyour portion for an inheritance.

12  When they were lfew in number,

of little account, and msojourners in it,

13  wandering from nation to nation,

from one kingdom to another people,

14  he nallowed no one to oppress them;

he orebuked kings on their account,

15  saying, pTouch not my anointed ones,

do my prophets no harm!

16  When he qsummoned a famine on the land

and rbroke all supply1 of bread,

17  he had ssent a man ahead of them,

Joseph, who was tsold as a slave.

18  His ufeet were hurt with fetters;

his neck was put in a collar of iron;

19  until vwhat he had said came to pass,

the word of the Lord wtested him.

20  xThe king sent and yreleased him;

the ruler of the peoples set him free;

21  he zmade him lord of his house

and ruler of all his possessions,

22  to bind2 his princes at his pleasure

and to teach his elders wisdom.

23  Then aIsrael came to Egypt;

Jacob bsojourned in cthe land of Ham.

24  And the Lord dmade his people very fruitful

and made them stronger than their foes.

25  He eturned their hearts to hate his people,

to fdeal craftily with his servants.

26  He gsent Moses, his servant,

and Aaron, hwhom he had chosen.

27  iThey performed his signs among them

and miracles in cthe land of Ham.

28  He jsent darkness, and made the land dark;

they kdid not rebel3 against his words.

29  He turned their waters into blood

and lcaused their fish to die.

30  Their land swarmed with frogs,

even in mthe chambers of their kings.

31  He spoke, and there came nswarms of flies,

oand gnats throughout their country.

32  He gave them hail for rain,

and fiery plightning bolts through their land.

33  He struck down their vines and fig trees,

and qshattered the trees of their country.

34  He spoke, and the rlocusts came,

young locusts without number,

35  which devoured all the vegetation in their land

and ate up the fruit of their ground.

36  He sstruck down all the firstborn in their land,

sthe firstfruits of all their strength.

37  Then he brought out Israel with tsilver and gold,

and there was none among his tribes who stumbled.

38  uEgypt was glad when they departed,

for vdread of them had fallen upon it.

39  He wspread a cloud for a covering,

and fire to give light by night.

40  xThey asked, and he ybrought quail,

and gave them zbread from heaven in abundance.

41  He opened the rock, and awater gushed out;

it flowed through bthe desert like a river.

42  For he cremembered his holy promise,

and dAbraham, his servant.

43  So he brought his people out with joy,

his dchosen ones with esinging.

44  And he fgave them the lands of the nations,

and they took possession of the fruit of the peoples’ toil,

45  that they might gkeep his statutes

and hobserve his laws.

iPraise the Lord!


Numbers 5

Unclean People

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Command the people of Israel that they iput out of the camp everyone who is leprous1 or has ja discharge and everyone who is kunclean through contact with the dead. You shall put out both male and female, putting them outside the camp, that they may not defile their camp, lin the midst of which I dwell. And the people of Israel did so, and put them outside the camp; as the Lord said to Moses, so the people of Israel did.

Confession and Restitution

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the people of Israel, mWhen a man or woman commits any of the sins that people commit by breaking faith with the Lord, and that person realizes his guilt, nhe shall confess his sin that he has committed.2 oAnd he shall make full restitution for his wrong, adding a fifth to it and giving it to him to whom he did the wrong. But if the man has no next of kin to whom restitution may be made for the wrong, the restitution for wrong shall go to the Lord for the priest, in addition to pthe ram of atonement with which atonement is made for him. And qevery contribution, all the holy donations of the people of Israel, which they bring to the priest, shall be his. 10 Each one shall keep his holy donations: whatever anyone gives to the priest shall be his.

A Test for Adultery

11 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 12 Speak to the people of Israel, If any man’s wife goes astray and breaks faith with him, 13 if a man rlies with her sexually, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband, and she is undetected though she has defiled herself, and there is no witness against her, ssince she was not taken in the act, 14 and if the spirit of jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife who has defiled herself, or if the spirit of jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife, though she has not defiled herself, 15 then the man shall bring his wife to the priest and bring the offering required of her, a tenth of an ephah3 of barley flour. tHe shall pour no oil on it and put no frankincense on it, for it is a grain offering of jealousy, a grain offering of remembrance, ubringing iniquity to remembrance.

16 And the priest shall bring her near and set her before the Lord. 17 And the priest shall take holy water in an earthenware vessel and take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water. 18 And the priest shall set the woman before the Lord and vunbind the hair of the woman’s head and place in her hands the grain offering of remembrance, which is the grain offering of jealousy. And in his hand the priest shall have the water of bitterness that brings the curse. 19 Then the priest shall make her take an oath, saying, If no man has lain with you, and if you have not turned aside to uncleanness while you were under your husband’s authority, be free from this water of bitterness that brings the curse. 20 But if you have gone astray, though you are under your husband’s authority, and if you have defiled yourself, and some man other than your husband has lain with you, 21 then (let the priest make the woman take the oath of the curse, and say to the woman) wthe Lord make you a curse and an oath among your people, when the Lord makes your thigh fall away and your body swell. 22 May this water that brings the curse xpass into your bowels and make your womb swell and your thigh fall away. And the woman shall say, yAmen, Amen.

23 Then the priest shall write these curses in a book and wash them off into the water of bitterness. 24 And he shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that brings the curse, and the water that brings the curse shall enter into her and cause bitter pain. 25 And the priest shall take the grain offering of jealousy out of the woman’s hand zand shall wave the grain offering before the Lord and bring it to the altar. 26 And the priest ashall take a handful of the grain offering, as its memorial portion, and burn it on the altar, and afterward shall make the woman drink the water. 27 And when he has made her drink the water, then, if she has defiled herself and has broken faith with her husband, the water that brings the curse shall enter into her and cause bitter pain, and her womb shall swell, and her thigh shall fall away, and the woman bshall become a curse among her people. 28 But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, then she shall be free and shall conceive children.

29 This is the law in cases of jealousy, when a wife, cthough under her husband’s authority, goes astray and defiles herself, 30 or when the spirit of jealousy comes over a man and he is jealous of his wife. Then he shall set the woman before the Lord, and the priest shall carry out for her all this law. 31 The man shall be free from iniquity, but the woman dshall bear her iniquity.