Leviticus 26-27; Psalms 39 - Prayer Tents

Leviticus 26

Blessings for Obedience

26"Do not make idols or set up carved images, or sacred pillars, or sculptured stones in your land so you may worship them. I am the LORD your God.H6213H457H6459H6965H4676H5414H4906H68H776H7812H3068H4302You must keep my Sabbath days of rest and show reverence for my sanctuary. I am the LORD.H8104H7676H3372H4720H30683"If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands,H3212H2708H8104H4687H62134I will send you the seasonal rains. The land will then yield its crops, and the trees of the field will produce their fruit.H5414H1653H6256H776H5414H2981H6086H7704H5414H65295Your threshing season will overlap with the grape harvest, and your grape harvest will overlap with the season of planting grain. You will eat your fill and live securely in your own land.H1786H5381H1210H1210H5381H2233H398H3899H7648H3427H776H9836"I will give you peace in the land, and you will be able to sleep with no cause for fear. I will rid the land of wild animals and keep your enemies out of your land.H5414H7965H776H7901H2729H7673H7451H2416H776H2719H5674H7767In fact, you will chase down your enemies and slaughter them with your swords.H7291H341H5307H6440H27198Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand! All your enemies will fall beneath your sword.H2568H7291H3967H3967H7233H7291H341H5307H6440H27199"I will look favorably upon you, making you fertile and multiplying your people. And I will fulfill my covenant with you.H6437H6509H7235H6965H128510You will have such a surplus of crops that you will need to clear out the old grain to make room for the new harvest!H398H3462H3318H3465H6440H231911I will live among you, and I will not despise you.H5414H4908H8432H5315H160212I will walk among you; I will be your God, and you will be my people.H1980H8432H1961H430H1961H597113I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt so you would no longer be their slaves. I broke the yoke of slavery from your neck so you can walk with your heads held high.H3068H430H3318H776H4714H5650H7665H4133H5923H3212H6968

Punishments for Disobedience

14"However, if you do not listen to me or obey all these commands,H8085H6213H468715and if you break my covenant by rejecting my decrees, treating my regulations with contempt, and refusing to obey my commands,H3988H2708H5315H1602H4941H6213H4687H6565H128516I will punish you. I will bring sudden terrors upon you—wasting diseases and burning fevers that will cause your eyes to fail and your life to ebb away. You will plant your crops in vain because your enemies will eat them.H6213H6485H928H7829H6920H3615H5869H1727H5315H2232H2233H7385H341H39817I will turn against you, and you will be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you will rule over you, and you will run even when no one is chasing you!H5414H6440H5062H6440H341H8130H7287H5127H729118"And if, in spite of all this, you still disobey me, I will punish you seven times over for your sins.H5704H8085H3256H7651H3254H240319I will break your proud spirit by making the skies as unyielding as iron and the earth as hard as bronze.H7665H1347H5797H5414H8064H1270H776H515420All your work will be for nothing, for your land will yield no crops, and your trees will bear no fruit.H3581H8552H7385H776H5414H2981H6086H776H5414H652921"If even then you remain hostile toward me and refuse to obey me, I will inflict disaster on you seven times over for your sins.H3212H7147H14H8085H3254H7651H3254H4347H240322I will send wild animals that will rob you of your children and destroy your livestock. Your numbers will dwindle, and your roads will be deserted.H7971H7704H2416H7921H3772H929H4591H1870H807423"And if you fail to learn the lesson and continue your hostility toward me,H3256H1980H714724then I myself will be hostile toward you. I will personally strike you with calamity seven times over for your sins.H1980H7147H5221H1571H7651H240325I will send armies against you to carry out the curse of the covenant you have broken. When you run to your towns for safety, I will send a plague to destroy you there, and you will be handed over to your enemies.H935H2719H5358H5359H1285H622H413H5892H7971H1698H8432H5414H3027H34126I will destroy your food supply, so that ten women will need only one oven to bake bread for their families. They will ration your food by weight, and though you have food to eat, you will not be satisfied.H7665H4294H3899H6235H802H644H3899H259H8574H7725H3899H7725H4948H398H764627"If in spite of all this you still refuse to listen and still remain hostile toward me,H2063H8085H1980H714728then I will give full vent to my hostility. I myself will punish you seven times over for your sins.H1980H7147H2534H637H3256H7651H240329Then you will eat the flesh of your own sons and daughters.H398H1320H1121H1320H1323H39830I will destroy your pagan shrines and knock down your places of worship. I will leave your lifeless corpses piled on top of your lifeless idols, and I will despise you.H8045H1116H3772H2553H5414H6297H6297H1544H5315H160231I will make your cities desolate and destroy your places of pagan worship. I will take no pleasure in your offerings that should be a pleasing aroma to me.H5414H5892H2723H8074H4720H8074H7306H7381H520732Yes, I myself will devastate your land, and your enemies who come to occupy it will be appalled at what they see.H8074H776H8074H341H3427H807433I will scatter you among the nations and bring out my sword against you. Your land will become desolate, and your cities will lie in ruins.H2219H1471H7324H2719H310H776H8077H5892H272334Then at last the land will enjoy its neglected Sabbath years as it lies desolate while you are in exile in the land of your enemies. Then the land will finally rest and enjoy the Sabbaths it missed.H776H7521H7676H3117H8074H341H776H776H7673H7521H767635As long as the land lies in ruins, it will enjoy the rest you never allowed it to take every seventh year while you lived in it.H3117H8074H7673H7673H7676H342736"And for those of you who survive, I will demoralize you in the land of your enemies. You will live in such fear that the sound of a leaf driven by the wind will send you fleeing. You will run as though fleeing from a sword, and you will fall even when no one pursues you.H7604H935H4816H3824H776H341H6963H5086H5929H7291H5127H4499H2719H5307H729137Though no one is chasing you, you will stumble over each other as though fleeing from a sword. You will have no power to stand up against your enemies.H3782H376H251H6440H2719H7291H8617H6440H34138You will die among the foreign nations and be devoured in the land of your enemies.H6H1471H776H341H39839Those of you who survive will waste away in your enemies' lands because of their sins and the sins of their ancestors.H7604H4743H5771H341H776H5771H1H474340"But at last my people will confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors for betraying me and being hostile toward me.H3034H5771H5771H1H4604H4603H1980H714741When I have turned their hostility back on them and brought them to the land of their enemies, then at last their stubborn hearts will be humbled, and they will pay for their sins.H3212H7147H935H776H341H176H6189H3824H3665H7521H577142Then I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.H2142H1285H3290H1285H3327H1285H85H2142H2142H77643For the land must be abandoned to enjoy its years of Sabbath rest as it lies deserted. At last the people will pay for their sins, for they have continually rejected my regulations and despised my decrees.H776H5800H7521H7676H8074H7521H5771H3282H3282H3988H4941H5315H1602H270844"But despite all this, I will not utterly reject or despise them while they are in exile in the land of their enemies. I will not cancel my covenant with them by wiping them out, for I am the LORD their God.H637H2063H1571H776H341H3988H1602H3615H6565H1285H3068H43045For their sakes I will remember my ancient covenant with their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of all the nations, that I might be their God. I am the LORD."H2142H1285H7223H3318H776H4714H5869H1471H430H306846These are the decrees, regulations, and instructions that the LORD gave through Moses on Mount Sinai as evidence of the relationship between himself and the Israelites.H2706H4941H8451H3068H5414H1121H3478H2022H5514H3027H4872

Leviticus 27

Redemption of Gifts Offered to the Lord

27The LORD said to Moses,H3068H1696H4872H559 2"Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. If anyone makes a special vow to dedicate someone to the LORD by paying the value of that person,H1696H1121H3478H559H376H6381H5088H5315H3068H6187 3here is the scale of values to be used. A man between the ages of twenty and sixty is valued at fifty shekels of silver, as measured by the sanctuary shekel.H6187H2145H6242H8141H1121H8346H8141H1121H6187H2572H8255H3701H8255H6944 4A woman of that age is valued at thirty shekels of silver.H5347H6187H7970H8255 5A boy between the ages of five and twenty is valued at twenty shekels of silver; a girl of that age is valued at ten shekels of silver.H2568H8141H1121H6242H8141H1121H6187H2145H6242H8255H5347H6235H8255 6A boy between the ages of one month and five years is valued at five shekels of silver; a girl of that age is valued at three shekels of silver.H2320H1121H2568H8141H1121H6187H2145H2568H8255H3701H5347H6187H7969H8255H3701 7A man older than sixty is valued at fifteen shekels of silver; a woman of that age is valued at ten shekels of silver.H8346H8141H1121H4605H2145H6187H2568H6240H8255H5347H6235H8255 8If you desire to make such a vow but cannot afford to pay the required amount, take the person to the priest. He will determine the amount for you to pay based on what you can afford.H4134H6187H5975H6440H3548H3548H6186H6310H3027H5381H5087H3548H6186 9"If your vow involves giving an animal that is acceptable as an offering to the LORD, any gift to the LORD will be considered holy.H929H7126H7133H3068H5414H3068H6944 10You may not exchange or substitute it for another animal—neither a good animal for a bad one nor a bad animal for a good one. But if you do exchange one animal for another, then both the original animal and its substitute will be considered holy.H2498H4171H2896H7451H7451H2896H4171H4171H929H929H8545H6944 11If your vow involves an unclean animal—one that is not acceptable as an offering to the LORD—then you must bring the animal to the priest.H2931H929H7126H7133H3068H5975H929H6440H3548 12He will assess its value, and his assessment will be final, whether high or low.H3548H6186H996H2896H996H7451H6187H3548 13If you want to buy back the animal, you must pay the value set by the priest, plus 20 percent.H1350H1350H3254H2549H6187 14"If someone dedicates a house to the LORD, the priest will come to assess its value. The priest's assessment will be final, whether high or low.H376H6942H1004H6944H3068H3548H6186H2896H7451H3548H6186H6965 15If the person who dedicated the house wants to buy it back, he must pay the value set by the priest, plus 20 percent. Then the house will again be his.H6942H1350H1004H3254H2549H3701H6187 16"If someone dedicates to the LORD a piece of his family property, its value will be assessed according to the amount of seed required to plant it—fifty shekels of silver for a field planted with five bushels of barley seed.H376H6942H3068H7704H272H6187H6310H2233H2563H8184H2233H2572H8255H3701 17If the field is dedicated to the LORD in the Year of Jubilee, then the entire assessment will apply.H6942H7704H8141H3104H6187H6965 18But if the field is dedicated after the Year of Jubilee, the priest will assess the land's value in proportion to the number of years left until the next Year of Jubilee. Its assessed value is reduced each year.H6942H7704H310H3104H3548H2803H3701H6310H8141H3498H8141H3104H1639H6187 19If the person who dedicated the field wants to buy it back, he must pay the value set by the priest, plus 20 percent. Then the field will again be legally his.H6942H7704H1350H1350H3254H2549H3701H6187H6965 20But if he does not want to buy it back, and it is sold to someone else, the field can no longer be bought back.H1350H7704H4376H7704H312H376H1350 21When the field is released in the Year of Jubilee, it will be holy, a field specially set apart for the LORD. It will become the property of the priests.H7704H3318H3104H6944H3068H7704H2764H272H3548 22"If someone dedicates to the LORD a field he has purchased but which is not part of his family property,H6942H3068H7704H4736H7704H272 23the priest will assess its value based on the number of years left until the next Year of Jubilee. On that day he must give the assessed value of the land as a sacred donation to the LORD.H3548H2803H4373H6187H8141H3104H5414H6187H3117H6944H3068 24In the Year of Jubilee the field must be returned to the person from whom he purchased it, the one who inherited it as family property.H8141H3104H7704H7725H7069H272H776 25(All the payments must be measured by the weight of the sanctuary shekel, which equals twenty gerahs.)H6187H8255H6944H6242H1626H8255 26"You may not dedicate a firstborn animal to the LORD, for the firstborn of your cattle, sheep, and goats already belong to him.H1060H929H3068H1069H376H6942H7794H7716H3068 27However, you may buy back the firstborn of a ceremonially unclean animal by paying the priest's assessment of its worth, plus 20 percent. If you do not buy it back, the priest will sell it at its assessed value.H2931H929H6299H6187H3254H2549H1350H4376H6187 28"However, anything specially set apart for the LORD—whether a person, an animal, or family property—must never be sold or bought back. Anything devoted in this way has been set apart as holy, and it belongs to the LORD.H2764H376H2763H3068H120H929H7704H272H4376H1350H2764H6944H6944H3068 29No person specially set apart for destruction may be bought back. Such a person must be put to death.H2764H3808H2763H120H6299H4191H4191 30"One tenth of the produce of the land, whether grain from the fields or fruit from the trees, belongs to the LORD and must be set apart to him as holy.H4643H776H2233H776H6529H6086H3068H6944H3068 31If you want to buy back the LORD's tenth of the grain or fruit, you must pay its value, plus 20 percent.H376H1350H1350H4643H3254H2549 32Count off every tenth animal from your herds and flocks and set them apart for the LORD as holy.H4643H1241H6629H5674H7626H6224H6944H3068 33You may not pick and choose between good and bad animals, and you may not substitute one for another. But if you do exchange one animal for another, then both the original animal and its substitute will be considered holy and cannot be bought back."H1239H2896H7451H4171H4171H4171H8545H6944H1350 34These are the commands that the LORD gave through Moses on Mount Sinai for the Israelites.H4687H3068H6680H4872H1121H3478H2022H5514

Psalms 39

39[For Jeduthun, the choir director: A psalm of David.] I said to myself, "I will watch what I do and not sin in what I say. I will hold my tongue when the ungodly are around me."H5329H3038H4210H1732H559H8104H1870H2398H3956H8104H6310H4269H75632But as I stood there in silence—not even speaking of good things—the turmoil within me grew worse.H481H1747H2814H2896H3511H59163The more I thought about it, the hotter I got, igniting a fire of words.H3820H2552H7130H1901H784H1197H227H1696H39564"LORD, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered—how fleeting my life is.H3068H3045H7093H4060H3117H3045H23105You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand. My entire lifetime is just a moment to you; at best, each of us is but a breath." InterludeH5414H3117H2947H2465H3605H120H5324H3605H1892H55426We are merely moving shadows, and all our busy rushing ends in nothing. We heap up wealth, not knowing who will spend it.H376H1980H6754H1993H1892H6651H3045H6227And so, Lord, where do I put my hope? My only hope is in you.H136H6960H84318Rescue me from my rebellion. Do not let fools mock me.H5337H6588H7760H2781H50369I am silent before you; I won't say a word, for my punishment is from you.H481H6605H6310H621310But please stop striking me! I am exhausted by the blows from your hand.H5493H5061H5493H3615H8409H302711When you discipline us for our sins, you consume like a moth what is precious to us. Each of us is but a breath. InterludeH8433H3256H376H5771H2530H4529H6211H120H1892H554212Hear my prayer, O LORD! Listen to my cries for help! Don't ignore my tears. For I am your guest—a traveler passing through, as my ancestors were before me.H8085H8605H3068H238H7775H2790H1832H1616H8453H113Leave me alone so I can smile again before I am gone and exist no more.H8159H1082H3212