Saturday, January 19, 2013

Leviticus 12:1-8 and Luke 16:1-15 (GWT)

Leviticus 12:1-8
Purification After Childbirth

1    The Lord spoke to Moses, 
2    “Tell the Israelites: When a woman gives birth to a boy, she will be unclean for seven days. This is the same number of days she is unclean for her monthly period. 
3    The boy must be circumcised when he is eight days old. 
4    Then she must stay at home for 33 days in order to be made clean from her bleeding. She must not touch anything holy or go into the holy place until the days needed to make her clean are over.
5    “When a woman gives birth to a girl, she will be unclean as in her monthly period. However, she will be unclean for two weeks. Then she must stay at home for 66 days in order to be made clean from her bleeding.
6    “When the days needed to make her clean are over, she must bring a one-year-old lamb for a burnt offering and a pigeon or a mourning dove as an offering for sin. She must bring them to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 
7    The priest will offer them in the Lord’s presence to make peace with the Lord for her. Then she will be clean from her flow of blood.  “These are the instructions for the woman who gives birth to a boy or a girl.
8    If she cannot afford a lamb, she must use two mourning doves or two pigeons. One will be the burnt offering and the other the offering for sin. So the priest will make peace with the Lord for her, and she will be clean.”

Luke 16:1-15
The Parable of the Shrewd Manager

1    Then Jesus said to his disciples, “A rich man had a business manager. The manager was accused of wasting the rich man’s property. 
2    So the rich man called for his manager and said to him, ‘What’s this I hear about you? Let me examine your books. It’s obvious that you can’t manage my property any longer.’
3    “The manager thought, ‘What should I do? My master is taking my job away from me. I’m not strong enough to dig, and I’m ashamed to beg. 
4    I know what I’ll do so that people will welcome me into their homes when I’ve lost my job.’
5    “So the manager called for each one of his master’s debtors. He said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’
6    “The debtor replied, ‘Eight hundred gallons of olive oil.’  “The manager told him, ‘Take my master’s ledger. Quick! Sit down, and write “four hundred!”’
7    “Then he asked another debtor, ‘How much do you owe?’  “The debtor replied, ‘A thousand bushels of wheat.’  “The manager told him, ‘Take the ledger, and write “eight hundred!”’
8    “The master praised the dishonest manager for being so clever. Worldly people are more clever than spiritually-minded people when it comes to dealing with others.”
9    Jesus continued, “I’m telling you that although wealth is often used in dishonest ways, you should use it to make friends for yourselves. When life is over, you will be welcomed into an eternal home.
10  Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with a lot. Whoever is dishonest with very little is dishonest with a lot. 
11  Therefore, if you can’t be trusted with wealth that is often used dishonestly, who will trust you with wealth that is real? 
12  If you can’t be trusted with someone else’s wealth, who will give you your own?
13  “A servant cannot serve two masters. He will hate the first master and love the second, or he will be devoted to the first and despise the second. You cannot serve God and wealth.”
14  The Pharisees, who love money, heard all this and were making sarcastic remarks about him.
15  So Jesus said to them, “You try to justify your actions in front of people. But God knows what’s in your hearts. What is important to humans is disgusting to God.

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