Leviticus 7

THE GUILT OFFERING
“Now this is the law of the guilt offering; it is especially holy.
2 The guilt offering is to be slaughtered at the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered, and the priest is to splatter its blood on all sides of the altar. 3 The offerer is to present all the fat from it: the fat tail, the fat surrounding the entrails, 4 and the two kidneys with the fat on them at the loins; he will also remove the fatty lobe of the liver with the kidneys. 5 The priest will burn them on the altar as a food offering to the Lord; it is a guilt offering. 6 Any male among the priests may eat it. It is to be eaten in a holy place; it is especially holy.

7 “The guilt offering is like the sin offering; the law is the same for both. It belongs to the priest who makes atonement with it. 8 As for the priest who presents someone’s burnt offering, the hide of the burnt offering he has presented belongs to him; it is the priest’s. 9 Any grain offering that is baked in an oven or prepared in a pan or on a griddle belongs to the priest who presents it; it is his. 10 But any grain offering, whether dry or mixed with oil, belongs equally to all of Aaron’s sons.

THE FELLOWSHIP SACRIFICE
11 “Now this is the law of the fellowship sacrifice that someone may present to the Lord: 12 If he presents it for thanksgiving, in addition to the thanksgiving sacrifice, he is to present unleavened cakes mixed with olive oil, unleavened wafers coated with oil, and well-kneaded cakes of fine flour mixed with oil. 13 He is to present as his offering cakes of leavened bread with his thanksgiving sacrifice of fellowship. 14 From the cakes he is to present one portion of each offering as a contribution to the Lord. It will belong to the priest who splatters the blood of the fellowship offering; it is his. 15 The meat of his thanksgiving sacrifice of fellowship must be eaten on the day he offers it; he may not leave any of it until morning.

16 “If the sacrifice he offers is a vow or a freewill offering, it is to be eaten on the day he presents his sacrifice, and what is left over may be eaten on the next day. 17 But what remains of the sacrificial meat by the third day must be burned. 18 If any of the meat of his fellowship sacrifice is eaten on the third day, it will not be accepted. It will not be credited to the one who presents it; it is repulsive. The person who eats any of it will bear his iniquity.

19 “Meat that touches anything unclean must not be eaten; it is to be burned. Everyone who is clean may eat any other meat. 20 But the one who eats meat from the Lord’s fellowship sacrifice while he is unclean, that person must be cut off from his people. 21 If someone touches anything unclean, whether human uncleanness, an unclean animal, or any unclean, abhorrent creature, and eats meat from the Lord’s fellowship sacrifice, that person is to be cut off from his people.”

FAT AND BLOOD PROHIBITED
22 The Lord spoke to Moses: 23 “Tell the Israelites: You are not to eat any fat of an ox, a sheep, or a goat. 24 The fat of an animal that dies naturally or is mauled by wild beasts may be used for any other purpose, but you must not eat it. 25 If anyone eats animal fat from a food offering presented to the Lord, the person who eats it is to be cut off from his people. 26 Wherever you live, you must not eat the blood of any bird or animal. 27 Whoever eats any blood is to be cut off from his people.”

THE PORTION FOR THE PRIESTS
28 The Lord spoke to Moses: 29 “Tell the Israelites: The one who presents a fellowship sacrifice to the Lord is to bring an offering to the Lord from his sacrifice. 30 His own hands will bring the food offerings to the Lord. He will bring the fat together with the breast. The breast is to be presented as a presentation offering before the Lord. 31 The priest is to burn the fat on the altar, but the breast belongs to Aaron and his sons. 32 You are to give the right thigh to the priest as a contribution from your fellowship sacrifices. 33 The son of Aaron who presents the blood of the fellowship offering and the fat will have the right thigh as a portion. 34 I have taken from the Israelites the breast of the presentation offering and the thigh of the contribution from their fellowship sacrifices, and have assigned them to the priest Aaron and to his sons as a permanent portion from the Israelites.”

35 This is the portion from the food offerings to the Lord for Aaron and his sons since the day they were presented to serve the Lord as priests. 36 The Lord commanded this to be given to them by the Israelites on the day he anointed them. It is a permanent portion throughout their generations.

37 This is the law for the burnt offering, the grain offering, the sin offering, the guilt offering, the ordination offering, and the fellowship sacrifice, 38 which the Lord commanded Moses on Mount Sinai on the day he commanded the Israelites to present their offerings to the Lord in the Wilderness of Sinai.

Psalm 7

PRAYER FOR JUSTICE
A Shiggaion of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning the words of Cush, a Benjaminite.

Lord my God, I seek refuge in you;
save me from all my pursuers and rescue me,
2 or they will tear me like a lion,
ripping me apart with no one to rescue me.
3 Lord my God, if I have done this,
if there is injustice on my hands,
4 if I have done harm to one at peace with me
or have plundered my adversary without cause,
5 may an enemy pursue and overtake me;
may he trample me to the ground
and leave my honor in the dust. Selah
6 Rise up, Lord, in your anger;
lift yourself up against the fury of my adversaries;
awake for me;
you have ordained a judgment.
7 Let the assembly of peoples gather around you;
take your seat on high over it.
8 The Lord judges the peoples;
vindicate me, Lord,
according to my righteousness and my integrity.
9 Let the evil of the wicked come to an end,
but establish the righteous.
The one who examines the thoughts and emotions
is a righteous God.
10 My shield is with God,
who saves the upright in heart.
11 God is a righteous judge
and a God who shows his wrath every day.
12 If anyone does not repent,
he will sharpen his sword;
he has strung his bow and made it ready.
13 He has prepared his deadly weapons;
he tips his arrows with fire.
14 See, the wicked one is pregnant with evil,
conceives trouble, and gives birth to deceit.
15 He dug a pit and hollowed it out
but fell into the hole he had made.
16 His trouble comes back on his own head;
his own violence comes down on top of his head.
17 I will thank the Lord for his righteousness;
I will sing about the name of the Lord Most High.

Psalm 8

GOD’S GLORY, HUMAN DIGNITY
For the choir director: on the Gittith. A psalm of David.

Lord, our Lord,
how magnificent is your name throughout the earth!
You have covered the heavens with your majesty.
2 From the mouths of infants and nursing babies,
you have established a stronghold
on account of your adversaries
in order to silence the enemy and the avenger.
3 When I observe your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you set in place,
4 what is a human being that you remember him,
a son of man that you look after him?
5 You made him little less than God
and crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You made him ruler over the works of your hands;
you put everything under his feet:
7 all the sheep and oxen,
as well as the animals in the wild,
8 the birds of the sky,
and the fish of the sea
that pass through the currents of the seas.
9 Lord, our Lord,
how magnificent is your name throughout the earth!

Proverbs 22

A good name is to be chosen over great wealth;
favor is better than silver and gold.
2 Rich and poor have this in common:
the Lord makes them all.
3 A sensible person sees danger and takes cover,
but the inexperienced keep going and are punished.
4 Humility, the fear of the Lord,
results in wealth, honor, and life.
5 There are thorns and snares on the way of the crooked;
the one who guards himself stays far from them.
6 Start a youth out on his way;
even when he grows old he will not depart from it.
7 The rich rule over the poor,
and the borrower is a slave to the lender.
8 The one who sows injustice will reap disaster,
and the rod of his fury will be destroyed.
9 A generous person will be blessed,
for he shares his food with the poor.
10 Drive out a mocker, and conflict goes too;
then quarreling and dishonor will cease.
11 The one who loves a pure heart
and gracious lips ​— ​the king is his friend.
12 The Lord’s eyes keep watch over knowledge,
but he overthrows the words of the treacherous.
13 The slacker says, “There’s a lion outside!
I’ll be killed in the public square! ”
14 The mouth of the forbidden woman is a deep pit;
a man cursed by the Lord will fall into it.
15 Foolishness is bound to the heart of a youth;
a rod of discipline will separate it from him.
16 Oppressing the poor to enrich oneself,
and giving to the rich ​— ​both lead only to poverty.

WORDS OF THE WISE
17 Listen closely, pay attention to the words of the wise,
and apply your mind to my knowledge.
18 For it is pleasing if you keep them within you
and if they are constantly on your lips.
19 I have instructed you today ​— ​even you —
so that your confidence may be in the Lord.
20 Haven’t I written for you thirty sayings
about counsel and knowledge,
21 in order to teach you true and reliable words,
so that you may give a dependable report
to those who sent you?
22 Don’t rob a poor person because he is poor,
and don’t crush the oppressed at the city gate,
23 for the Lord will champion their cause
and will plunder those who plunder them.
24 Don’t make friends with an angry person,
and don’t be a companion of a hot-tempered one,
25 or you will learn his ways
and entangle yourself in a snare.
26 Don’t be one of those who enter agreements,
who put up security for loans.
27 If you have nothing with which to pay,
even your bed will be taken from under you.
28 Don’t move an ancient boundary marker
that your ancestors set up.
29 Do you see a person skilled in his work?
He will stand in the presence of kings.
He will not stand in the presence of the unknown.

1 Thessalonians 1

GREETING
Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy:

To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Grace to you and peace.

THANKSGIVING
2 We always thank God for all of you, making mention of you constantly in our prayers. 3 We recall, in the presence of our God and Father, your work produced by faith, your labor motivated by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, in the Holy Spirit, and with full assurance. You know how we lived among you for your benefit, 6 and you yourselves became imitators of us and of the Lord when, in spite of severe persecution, you welcomed the message with joy from the Holy Spirit. 7 As a result, you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 8 For the word of the Lord rang out from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place that your faith in God has gone out. Therefore, we don’t need to say anything, 9 for they themselves report what kind of reception we had from you: how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead ​— ​Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.

— Leviticus 7, Psalm 7-8, Proverbs 22, 1 Thessalonians 1 (CSB)