Daily Text and Bible Reading: Monday, February 17 [Press play below]

19.1 Jehovah spoke again to Moses and Aaron, saying:
19.2 “This is a statute of the law that Jehovah has commanded, ‘Tell the Israelites that they should take for you a sound red cow in which there is no defect and upon which no yoke has come.
19.3 You are to give it to Eleazar the priest, and he will lead it outside the camp, and it will be slaughtered before him.
19.4 Then Eleazar the priest will take some of its blood with his finger and spatter its blood seven times straight toward the front of the tent of meeting.
19.5 The cow will then be burned before his eyes. Its skin and its flesh and its blood together with its dung will be burned.
19.6 And the priest will take cedarwood, hyssop, and scarlet material and throw them into the fire where the cow is being burned.
19.7 The priest will then wash his garments and bathe himself in water, and afterward he may come into the camp; but the priest will be unclean until the evening.
19.8 “‘The one who burned the cow will wash his garments in water and bathe himself in water, and he will be unclean until the evening.
19.9 “‘A clean man will gather up the ashes of the cow and deposit them outside the camp in a clean place, and they should be kept by the assembly of the Israelites to prepare water that will be used for cleansing. It is a sin offering.
19.10 The one gathering the ashes of the cow will wash his garments and be unclean until the evening. “‘This will serve the Israelites and the foreigner who is residing in their midst as a lasting statute.
19.11 Anyone touching any dead person will be unclean for seven days.
19.12 Such one should purify himself with the water on the third day, and on the seventh day he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third day, on the seventh day he will not be clean.
19.13 Everyone who touches the corpse of any dead person and does not purify himself has defiled Jehovah’s tabernacle, and that person must be cut off from Israel. Because the water for cleansing has not been sprinkled on him, he continues unclean. His uncleanness remains upon him.
19.14 “‘This is the law that applies when a man dies in a tent: Everyone who enters the tent and everyone who was already in the tent will be unclean for seven days.
19.15 Every opened container with no lid tied on it is unclean.
19.16 Everyone in the open field who touches someone killed with the sword or a corpse or the bone of a man or a burial place will be unclean for seven days.
19.17 They should take for the unclean one some of the ashes of the sin offering that was burned and pour running water on them in a container.
19.18 Then a clean man will take hyssop and dip it into the water and spatter it on the tent and on all the containers and on the people who were there and on the one who touched the bone or the slain one or the corpse or the burial place.
19.19 The clean person will spatter it on the unclean one on the third day and on the seventh day, and he will purify him from sin on the seventh day; then he should wash his garments and bathe in water, and he will become clean in the evening.
19.20 “‘But the man who is unclean and who will not purify himself, that person must be cut off from the congregation, because he has defiled Jehovah’s sanctuary. The water for cleansing was not sprinkled on him, so he is unclean.
19.21 “‘This will serve as a lasting statute for them: The one spattering the water for cleansing should wash his garments, and the one touching the water for cleansing will be unclean until the evening.
19.22 Anything the unclean one touches will be unclean, and the person who touches it will be unclean until the evening.’”
20.1 In the first month, the entire assembly of the Israelites came into the wilderness of Zin, and the people began dwelling in Kadesh. It was there that Miriam died and was buried.
20.2 Now there was no water for the assembly, and they gathered together against Moses and Aaron.
20.3 The people were quarreling with Moses, saying: “If only we had died when our brothers died before Jehovah!
20.4 Why have you brought Jehovah’s congregation into this wilderness for us and our livestock to die here?
20.5 And why have you led us up out of Egypt to bring us into this evil place? It is no place for seed and figs and vines and pomegranates, and there is no water to drink.”
20.6 Then Moses and Aaron came from before the congregation to the entrance of the tent of meeting and fell with their faces to the ground, and Jehovah’s glory began to appear to them.
20.7 Then Jehovah said to Moses:
20.8 “Take the rod and call the assembly together, you and Aaron your brother, and speak to the crag before their eyes that it may give its water, and you will bring out water for them from the crag and give the assembly and their livestock something to drink.”
20.9 So Moses took the rod from before Jehovah, just as He had commanded him.
20.10 Then Moses and Aaron called the congregation together before the crag, and he said to them: “Hear, now, you rebels! Must we bring out water for you from this crag?”
20.11 With that Moses lifted his hand up and struck the crag twice with his rod, and much water began to pour out, and the assembly and their livestock began to drink.
20.12 Jehovah later said to Moses and Aaron: “Because you did not show faith in me and sanctify me before the eyes of the people of Israel, you will not bring this congregation into the land that I will give them.”
20.13 These are the waters of Meribah, where the Israelites quarreled with Jehovah, so that he was sanctified among them.
20.14 Then Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom: “This is what your brother Israel says, ‘You well know all the hardship that we have experienced.
20.15 Our fathers went to Egypt, and we dwelled in Egypt many years, and the Egyptians mistreated us and our fathers.
20.16 Finally we cried out to Jehovah, and he heard us and sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt, and here we are in Kadesh, a city on the border of your territory.
20.17 Please let us pass through your land. We will not pass through any field or vineyard, and we will not drink the water of any well. We will march on the King’s Road without turning to the right or the left until we pass through your territory.’”
20.18 However, Edom said to him: “You may not pass through our territory. If you do, I will come out with the sword to meet you.”
20.19 In turn the Israelites said to him: “By the highway we will go up, and if we and our livestock drink your water, we will pay for it. We want nothing more than to pass through on foot.”
20.20 Still he said: “You may not pass through.” With that Edom came out to encounter him with many people and a strong army.
20.21 So Edom refused to allow Israel to pass through his territory; therefore, Israel turned away from him.
20.22 The people of Israel, the entire assembly, departed from Kadesh and came to Mount Hor.
20.23 Then Jehovah said to Moses and Aaron in Mount Hor by the border of the land of Edom:
20.24 “Aaron will be gathered to his people. He will not enter the land that I will give to the Israelites, because you both rebelled against my order regarding the waters of Meribah.
20.25 Take Aaron and his son Eleazar and bring them up into Mount Hor.
20.26 Remove Aaron’s garments and clothe Eleazar his son with them, and Aaron will die there.”
20.27 So Moses did just as Jehovah had commanded, and they climbed Mount Hor before the eyes of all the assembly.
20.28 Then Moses removed Aaron’s garments and clothed Eleazar his son with them. After that Aaron died there on the top of the mountain. And Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain.
20.29 When all the assembly saw that Aaron had died, the entire house of Israel wept for Aaron for 30 days.
21.1 When the Canaanite king of Arad, who dwelled in the Negeb, heard that Israel had come by the way of Atharim, he attacked Israel and carried away some of them as captives.
21.2 So Israel made this vow to Jehovah: “If you give this people into my hand, I will without fail devote their cities to destruction.”
21.3 So Jehovah listened to Israel’s voice and gave the Canaanites over to them, and they devoted them and their cities to destruction. Therefore, they named the place Hormah.
21.4 As they continued their journey from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea in order to go around the land of Edom, the people became weary of the journey.
21.5 And the people kept speaking against God and Moses, saying: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no food and no water, and we have come to hate this contemptible bread.”
21.6 So Jehovah sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they kept biting the people, so that many Israelites died.
21.7 So the people came to Moses and said: “We have sinned by speaking against Jehovah and against you. Intercede with Jehovah so that he may remove the serpents from us.” And Moses interceded on behalf of the people.
21.8 Then Jehovah said to Moses: “Make a replica of a poisonous snake and put it on a pole. Then when anyone has been bitten, he will have to look at it in order to keep alive.”
21.9 Moses at once made a serpent of copper and put it on the pole, and whenever a serpent had bitten a man and he looked at the copper serpent, he survived.
21.10 After that the Israelites departed and camped in Oboth.
21.11 Then they departed from Oboth and camped in Iye-abarim, in the wilderness that faces Moab, toward the east.
21.12 From there they departed and camped by the Valley of Zered.
21.13 From there they departed and camped in the region of the Arnon, which is in the wilderness that extends from the border of the Amorites, for the Arnon is the boundary of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites.
21.14 That is why the book of the Wars of Jehovah speaks of “Vaheb in Suphah and the valleys of Arnon,
21.15 and the descent of the valleys, which extends toward the settlement of Ar and adjoins the border of Moab.”
21.16 Next they went on to Beer. This is the well about which Jehovah said to Moses: “Gather the people, and let me give them water.”
21.17 At that time, Israel sang this song: “Spring up, O well!—Respond to it!
21.18 The well that princes dug, that nobles of the people excavated, With a commander’s staff and with their own staffs.” Then they went from the wilderness on to Mattanah,
21.19 from Mattanah on to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel on to Bamoth.
21.20 They went from Bamoth on to the valley that is in the territory of Moab, on top of Pisgah, which overlooks Jeshimon.
21.21 Israel now sent messengers to Sihon, the king of the Amorites, saying:
21.22 “Let us pass through your land. We will not turn aside into a field or a vineyard. We will not drink water from any well. We will march on the King’s Road until we pass through your territory.”
21.23 But Sihon did not allow Israel to pass through his territory. Instead, Sihon gathered all his people and went out against Israel in the wilderness and came to Jahaz and began fighting with Israel.
21.24 But Israel defeated him with the sword and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, near the Ammonites, because Jazer borders the territory of the Ammonites.
21.25 So Israel took all these cities, and they began dwelling in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon and all its dependent towns.
21.26 For Heshbon was the city of Sihon, the king of the Amorites, who had fought with the king of Moab and taken all his land from him as far as the Arnon.
21.27 That is what gave rise to the taunting proverbial saying: “Come to Heshbon. Let the city of Sihon be built and firmly established.
21.28 For a fire came out of Heshbon, a flame from the town of Sihon. It has consumed Ar of Moab, the lords of the high places of the Arnon.
21.29 Woe to you, Moab! You will be destroyed, O people of Chemosh! He makes his sons fugitives and his daughters captives of Sihon, the king of the Amorites.
21.30 Let us shoot at them; Heshbon will be destroyed as far as Dibon; Let us desolate it as far as Nophah; Fire will spread as far as Medeba.”
21.31 So Israel began to dwell in the land of the Amorites.
21.32 Moses then sent some men to spy on Jazer. They captured its dependent towns and drove out the Amorites who were there.
21.33 After that they turned and went up by the Way of Bashan. And Og the king of Bashan came out with all his people to meet them in battle at Edrei.
21.34 Jehovah said to Moses: “Do not be afraid of him, for I will give him and all his people and his land into your hand, and you will do to him just as you did to Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.”
21.35 So they kept striking him down, along with his sons and all his people, until none of his people survived, and they took possession of his land.