AME Zion Universal Reading June 25th 2023

Sunday School Zoom Link

First Portion

Bamidbar (Numbers) Chapter 16

1Korah the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi took [himself to one side] along with Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, descendants of Reuben.2They confronted Moses together with two hundred and fifty men from the children of Israel, chieftains of the congregation, representatives of the assembly, men of repute.3They assembled against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, "You take too much upon yourselves, for the entire congregation are all holy, and the Lord is in their midst. So why do you raise yourselves above the Lord's assembly?"4Moses heard and fell on his face.5He spoke to Korah and to all his company, saying, "In the morning, the Lord will make known who is His, and who is holy, and He will draw [them] near to Him, and the one He chooses, He will draw near to Him.6Do this, Korah and his company: Take for yourselves censers.7Place fire into them and put incense upon them before the Lord tomorrow, and the man whom the Lord chooses he is the holy one; you have taken too much upon yourselves, sons of Levi."8Moses said to Korah, "Please listen, sons of Levi.9Is it not enough that the God of Israel has distinguished you from the congregation of Israel to draw you near to Him, to perform the service in the Mishkan of the Lord and to stand before the congregation to minister to them?10He drew you near, and all your brothers, the sons of Levi with you, and now you seek the kehunah as well?11Therefore, you and your entire company who are assembled are against the Lord, for what is Aaron that you should complain against him?"12Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, but they said, "We will not go up.13Is it not enough that you have brought us out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the desert, that you should also exercise authority over us?

Zephaniah 3:14–20 (NLT):

14 Sing, O daughter of Zion;

shout aloud, O Israel!

Be glad and rejoice with all your heart,

O daughter of Jerusalem!

15 For the Lord will remove his hand of judgment

and will disperse the armies of your enemy.

And the Lord himself, the King of Israel,

will live among you!

At last your troubles will be over,

and you will never again fear disaster.

16 On that day the announcement to Jerusalem will be,

“Cheer up, Zion! Don’t be afraid!

17 For the Lord your God is living among you.

He is a mighty savior.

He will take delight in you with gladness.

With his love, he will calm all your fears.

He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.”

18 “I will gather you who mourn for the appointed festivals;

you will be disgraced no more.

19 And I will deal severely with all who have oppressed you.

I will save the weak and helpless ones;

I will bring together

those who were chased away.

I will give glory and fame to my former exiles,

wherever they have been mocked and shamed.

20 On that day I will gather you together

and bring you home again.

I will give you a good name, a name of distinction,

among all the nations of the earth,

as I restore your fortunes before their very eyes.

I, the Lord, have spoken!”

Second Portion

Bamidbar (Numbers) Chapter 16

14You have not even brought us to a land flowing with milk and honey, nor have you given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Even if you gouge out the eyes of those men, we will not go up."15Moses was exceedingly distressed, and he said to the Lord, "Do not accept their offering. I have not taken a donkey from a single one of them, and I have not harmed a single one of them."16Moses said to Korah, "You and your entire congregation should be before the Lord you, they, and Aaron tomorrow.17Let each man take his censer and place incense upon it, and let each man present his censer before the Lord; [there will thus be] two hundred and fifty censers, and let you and Aaron each [take] his censer.18So each man took his censer, and they put fire upon it and placed incense upon it, and they stood at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting with Moses and Aaron.19Korah assembled all the congregation against them at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the Lord appeared before the entire congregation.

Monday

Jeremiah 31:1–9 (NLT): Hope for Restoration

“In that day,” says the Lord, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be my people. 2 This is what the Lord says:

“Those who survive the coming destruction

will find blessings even in the barren land,

for I will give rest to the people of Israel.”

3 Long ago the Lord said to Israel:

“I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love.

With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself.

4 I will rebuild you, my virgin Israel.

You will again be happy

and dance merrily with your tambourines.

5 Again you will plant your vineyards on the mountains of Samaria

and eat from your own gardens there.

6 The day will come when watchmen will shout

from the hill country of Ephraim,

‘Come, let us go up to Jerusalem

to worship the Lord our God.’ ”

7 Now this is what the Lord says:

“Sing with joy for Israel.

Shout for the greatest of nations!

Shout out with praise and joy:

‘Save your people, O Lord,

the remnant of Israel!’

8 For I will bring them from the north

and from the distant corners of the earth.

I will not forget the blind and lame,

the expectant mothers and women in labor.

A great company will return!

9 Tears of joy will stream down their faces,

and I will lead them home with great care.

They will walk beside quiet streams

and on smooth paths where they will not stumble.

For I am Israel’s father,

and Ephraim is my oldest child.

Third Portion

Bamidbar (Numbers) Chapter 16

20The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron saying,21"Dissociate yourselves from this congregation, and I will consume them in an instant.22They fell on their faces and said, "O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, if one man sins, shall You be angry with the whole congregation?"23The Lord spoke to Moses saying,24"Speak to the congregation saying, 'Withdraw from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan and Abiram.'"25Moses arose and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him.26He spoke to the congregation saying, "Please get away from the tents of these wicked men, and do not touch anything of theirs, lest you perish because of all their sins.27So they withdrew from around the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, and Dathan and Abiram went out standing upright at the entrance of their tents together with their wives, their children, and their infants.28Moses said, "With this you shall know that the Lord sent me to do all these deeds, for I did not devise them myself.29If these men die as all men die and the fate of all men will be visited upon them, then the Lord has not sent me.30But if the Lord creates a creation, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them and all that is theirs, and they descend alive into the grave, you will know that these men have provoked the Lord."31As soon as he finished speaking all these words, the earth beneath them split open.32The earth beneath them opened its mouth and swallowed them and their houses, and all the men who were with Korah and all the property.33They, and all they possessed, descended alive into the grave; the earth covered them up, and they were lost to the assembly.34All Israel who were around them fled from their cries, for they said, "Lest the earth swallow us up [too]!"35A fire came forth from the Lord and consumed the two hundred and fifty men who had offered up the incense.Bamidbar (Numbers) Chapter 17 1The Lord spoke to Moses saying:2Say to Eleazar the son of Aaron the kohen that he should pick up the censers from the burned area (but throw the fire away), because they have become sanctified,3the censers of these who sinned at the cost of their lives, and they shall make them into flattened out plates as an overlay for the altar, for they brought them before the Lord, and have [therefore] become sanctified, and they shall be as a reminder for the children of Israel.4So Eleazar the kohen took the copper censers which the fire victims had brought, and they hammered them out as an overlay for the altar,5as a reminder for the children of Israel, so that no outsider, who is not of the seed of Aaron, shall approach to burn incense before the Lord, so as not to be like Korah and his company, as the Lord spoke regarding him through the hand of Moses.6The following day, the entire congregation of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron saying, "You have killed the people of the Lord."7It came to pass while the congregation were assembled against Moses and Aaron, that they turned to the Tent of Meeting, and behold, the cloud had covered it, and the glory of the Lord appeared.8Moses and Aaron came to the front of the Tent of Meeting.

Tuesday

Jeremiah 31:27–34 (NLT):

27 “The day is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will greatly increase the human population and the number of animals here in Israel and Judah. 28 In the past I deliberately uprooted and tore down this nation. I overthrew it, destroyed it, and brought disaster upon it. But in the future I will just as deliberately plant it and build it up. I, the Lord, have spoken!

29 “The people will no longer quote this proverb:

‘The parents have eaten sour grapes,

but their children’s mouths pucker at the taste.’

30 All people will die for their own sins—those who eat the sour grapes will be the ones whose mouths will pucker.

31 “The day is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. 32 This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant, though I loved them as a husband loves his wife,” says the Lord.

33 “But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days,” says the Lord. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, ‘You should know the Lord.’ For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already,” says the Lord. “And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.”

Fourth Portion

Bamidbar (Numbers) Chapter 17

9The Lord spoke to Moses saying:10Stand aside from this congregation, and I shall consume them in an instant." They fell on their faces.11Moses said to Aaron, "Take the censer and put fire from the altar top into it and put incense. Then take it quickly to the congregation and atone for them, for wrath has gone forth from the Lord, and the plague has begun."12Aaron took [it], just as Moses had said, and he ran into the midst of the assembly, and behold, the plague had begun among the people. He placed the incense on it and atoned for the people.13He stood between the dead and the living, and the plague ceased.14The number of dead in the plague was fourteen thousand, seven hundred, besides those who died because of the matter of Korah.15Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, and the plague was checked.

Wednesday

2 Corinthians 5:1–11 (NLT): New Bodies

For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. 2 We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. 3 For we will put on heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits without bodies. 4 While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life. 5 God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit.

6 So we are always confident, even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies we are not at home with the Lord. 7 For we live by believing and not by seeing. 8 Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord. 9 So whether we are here in this body or away from this body, our goal is to please him. 10 For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body.

We Are God’s Ambassadors

11 Because we understand our fearful responsibility to the Lord, we work hard to persuade others. God knows we are sincere, and I hope you know this, too.

Fifth Portion

Bamidbar (Numbers) Chapter 17

16The Lord spoke to Moses saying:17Speak to the children of Israel and take from them a staff for each father's house from all the chieftains according to their fathers' houses; [a total of] twelve staffs, and inscribe each man's name on his staff.18Inscribe Aaron's name on the staff of Levi, for there is [only] one staff for the head of their fathers' house.19You shall place the staffs in the Tent of Meeting before the [Ark of] the Testimony where I commune with you.20The staff of the man whom I will choose will blossom, and I will calm down [turning away] from Myself the complaints of the children of Israel which they are complaining against you.21Moses spoke to the children of Israel, and all their chieftains gave him a staff for each chieftain according to their fathers' houses, [a total of] twelve staffs, and Aaron's staff was amidst their staffs.22Moses placed the staffs before the Lord in the Tent of the Testimony.23And on the following day Moses came to the Tent of Testimony, and behold, Aaron's staff for the house of Levi had blossomed! It gave forth blossoms, sprouted buds, and produced ripe almonds.24Moses took out all the staffs from before the Lord, to the children of Israel; they saw and they took, each man his staff.

Thursday

2 Corinthians 5:12–21 (NLT):

12 Are we commending ourselves to you again? No, we are giving you a reason to be proud of us, so you can answer those who brag about having a spectacular ministry rather than having a sincere heart. 13 If it seems we are crazy, it is to bring glory to God. And if we are in our right minds, it is for your benefit. 14 Either way, Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. 15 He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.

16 So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! 17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

18 And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. 19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. 20 So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” 21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

Sixth Portion

Bamidbar (Numbers) Chapter 17

25The Lord said to Moses: Put Aaron's staff back in front of the Testimony as a keepsake [and] a sign for rebellious ones. Then their complaints against Me will end and they will not die.26Moses did so. He did just as the Lord had commanded him.27The children of Israel spoke to Moses saying, "Behold, we are dying, we will perish, we are all lost!28Whoever comes the closest to the Mishkan of the Lord dies! Have we been consigned to die?

Bamidbar (Numbers) Chapter 18

1The Lord said to Aaron: You, your sons and your father's house shall bear the iniquity associated with the Sanctuary, and you and your sons with you shall bear the iniquity associated with your kehunah.2Also your brethren, the tribe of Levi, your father's tribe, draw close to you, and they shall join you and minister to you, and you and your sons with you, before the Tent of Testimony.3They shall keep your charge and the charge of the Tent, and they shall not approach the holy vessels or the altar, so that neither they nor you will die.4They shall join you, and they shall keep the charge of the Tent of Meeting for all the service of the Tent, and no outsider shall come near you.5They shall keep the charge of the Sanctuary and the charge of the altar, so that there be no more wrath against the children of Israel.6I have therefore taken your brethren, the Levites, from among the children of Israel; they are given to you as a gift, and given over to the Lord to perform the service in the Tent of Meeting.7And you and your sons shall keep your kehunah in all matters concerning the altar, and concerning what is within the dividing screen, and you shall serve; the service as a gift I have given your kehunah, and any outsider [non-kohen] who approaches shall die.8The Lord told Aaron: Behold I have given you the charge of My gift [offerings]. I have thus given you all the holy things of the children of Israel for distinction, and as an eternal portion for your sons.9These shall be yours from the holiest of holies, from the fire: all their offerings, their meal-offerings, their sin-offerings, their guilt-offerings, [and] what they return to Me; they shall be holy of holies to you and to your sons.10You shall eat it in the holiest of places. Any male may eat of it; it shall be holy to you.11This shall be yours what is set aside for their gifts from all the wavings of the children of Israel; I have given them to you, and to your sons and to your daughters with you, as an eternal portion. Any [ritually] clean member of your household may eat it.12The choice of the oil and the choice of the wine and grain, the first of which they give to the Lord, to you I have given them.13The first fruit of all that grows in their land, which they shall bring to the Lord shall be yours; any [ritually] clean member of your household may eat of it.14Any devoted thing in Israel shall be yours.15Every first issue of the womb of any creature, which they present to the Lord, whether of man or beast, shall be yours. However, you shall redeem the firstborn of man, and the firstborn of unclean animals you shall redeem.16Its redemption [shall be performed] from the age of a month, according to the valuation, five shekels of silver, according to the holy shekel, which is twenty gerahs.17However, a firstborn ox or a firstborn sheep or a firstborn goat shall not be redeemed, for they are holy; their blood shall be sprinkled on the altar, and their fats shall be burned as a fire-offering, as a pleasing fragrance to the Lord.18Their flesh shall be yours; like the breast of the waving and the right thigh, it shall be yours.19All the gifts of the holy [offerings] which are set aside by the children of Israel for the Lord I have given to you, and to your sons and daughters with you, as an eternal portion; it is like an eternal covenant of salt before the Lord, for you and your descendants with you.20The Lord said to Aaron, You shall not inherit in their land, and you shall have no portion among them. I am your inheritance and portion among the children of Israel.

Friday

Psalm 86:1–17 (NLT):

 1 Bend down, O Lord, and hear my prayer;

answer me, for I need your help.

2 Protect me, for I am devoted to you.

Save me, for I serve you and trust you.

You are my God.

3 Be merciful to me, O Lord,

for I am calling on you constantly.

4 Give me happiness, O Lord,

for I give myself to you.

5 O Lord, you are so good, so ready to forgive,

so full of unfailing love for all who ask for your help.

6 Listen closely to my prayer, O Lord;

hear my urgent cry.

7 I will call to you whenever I’m in trouble,

and you will answer me.

8 No pagan god is like you, O Lord.

None can do what you do!

9 All the nations you made

will come and bow before you, Lord;

they will praise your holy name.

10 For you are great and perform wonderful deeds.

You alone are God.

11 Teach me your ways, O Lord,

that I may live according to your truth!

Grant me purity of heart,

so that I may honor you.

12 With all my heart I will praise you, O Lord my God.

I will give glory to your name forever,

13 for your love for me is very great.

You have rescued me from the depths of death.

14 O God, insolent people rise up against me;

a violent gang is trying to kill me.

You mean nothing to them.

15 But you, O Lord,

are a God of compassion and mercy,

slow to get angry

and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.

16 Look down and have mercy on me.

Give your strength to your servant;

save me, the son of your servant.

17 Send me a sign of your favor.

Then those who hate me will be put to shame,

for you, O Lord, help and comfort me.

Seventh Portion

Bamidbar (Numbers) Chapter 18

21And to the descendants of Levi, I have given all tithes of Israel as an inheritance, in exchange for their service which they perform-the service of the Tent of Meeting.22The children of Israel shall therefore no longer approach the Tent of Meeting, lest they bear sin and die.23The Levites shall perform the service of the Tent of Meeting, and they will bear their iniquity; it is an eternal statute for your generations, but among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.24For the tithes of the children of Israel, which they shall set aside for the Lord as a gift, I have given to the Levites as an inheritance. Thus, I have said to them that they shall have no inheritance among the children of Israel.25The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:26Speak to the Levites and tell them, "When you take the tithe from the children of Israel which I have given you from them as your inheritance, you shall set aside from it a gift for the Lord, a tithe of the tithe.27Your gift shall be considered for you as grain from the threshing-floor and as the produce of the vat.28So shall you too set aside a gift for the Lord from all the tithes you take from the children of Israel, and you shall give thereof the Lord's gift to Aaron the priest.29From all your gifts, you shall set aside every gift of the Lord, from its choicest portion, that part of it which is to be consecrated."30Say to them, "When you separate its choicest part, it shall be considered for the Levites as produce from the threshing-floor and as produce from the vat.31You and your household may eat it anywhere, for it is your wage for you in exchange for your service in the Tent of Meeting.32After you separate the choicest part from it, you shall not bear any sin on account of it, but you shall not profane the sacred [offerings] of the children of Israel, so that you shall not die.

Saturday

1 Corinthians 13:1–13 (NLT): Love Is the Greatest

If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. 3 If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.

4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

8 Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! 9 Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! 10 But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless.

11 When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. 12 Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

13 Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

Maftir Portion

Bamidbar (Numbers) Chapter 18

30Say to them, "When you separate its choicest part, it shall be considered for the Levites as produce from the threshing-floor and as produce from the vat.31You and your household may eat it anywhere, for it is your wage for you in exchange for your service in the Tent of Meeting.32After you separate the choicest part from it, you shall not bear any sin on account of it, but you shall not profane the sacred [offerings] of the children of Israel, so that you shall not die.

Haftarah

Shmuel I (I Samuel) Chapter 11

14And Samuel said to the people, "Come, and let us go to Gilgal, and renew there the kingdom."15And all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the Lord in Gilgal, and there they slaughtered peace-offerings before the Lord, and Saul and all the people rejoiced greatly.

Shmuel I (I Samuel) Chapter 12

1And Samuel said to all Israel, "Behold, I have hearkened to your voice, to everything which you have said to me, and I have made a king to reign over you.2And now, behold the king is walking before you, and I have become old and hoary, and my sons are here with you, and I have walked before you from my youth and until this day.3Here I am; bear witness against me before the Lord and before His anointed; whose ox did I take, or whose ass did I take, or whom did I rob; or whom did I oppress, or from whose hand did I take a ransom, that I hide my eyes therewith, and I shall restore to you."4And they said, "You did not rob us, nor did you oppress us, neither did you take anything from anyone's hand."5And he said to them, "The Lord is a witness against you, and His anointed is witness this day, that you have not found anything in my hand, and they said, "(He is) witness."6And Samuel said to the people, "(It is) the Lord Who made Moses and Aaron, and Who brought your forefathers up from the land of Egypt.7And now, stand and I shall reason with you before the Lord, concerning all the righteous acts which He did to you and to your forefathers.8When Jacob came to Egypt, and your forefathers cried out to the Lord, the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, and they brought your forefathers out of Egypt, and they made them dwell in this place.9And they forgot the Lord, their God, and He delivered them into the hand of Sisera, the commander of the army of Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they waged war with them.10And they cried out to the Lord, and said, 'We have sinned, for we have forsaken the Lord, and have served the Baalim and Ashtaroth. Now, save us from the hand of our enemies, and we shall serve You.'11And the Lord sent Jerubaal, and Bedan, and Jephtah, and Samuel, and He saved you from the hand of your enemies round about, and you dwelt in safety.12And when you saw that Nahash, the king of Ammon, came upon you, you said to me, 'No, but a king shall rule over us,' when the Lord your God was your king.13And now, behold the king whom you have chosen, whom you have requested, and behold, the Lord has appointed a king over you.14If you will fear the Lord, and serve Him, and hearken to His voice, and you will not rebel against the commandments of the Lord, both you and the king who reigns over you, will be after the Lord your God.15But, if you will not hearken to the voice of the Lord, and you will rebel against the commandments of the Lord, the Lord's hand will be against you and against your fathers.16Even now, stand and see this great thing which the Lord will do before your eyes.17Is it not wheat harvest today? I shall call to the Lord, and He will send thunder and rain, and you shall know and see, that your evil is great, which you have done in the eyes of the Lord, to ask for yourselves a king."18And Samuel called to the Lord, and the Lord sent thunder and rain on that day, and all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel.19And all the people said to Samuel, "Pray for your servants to the Lord your God and let us not die, for we have added to all our sins evil, to ask for ourselves a king."20And Samuel said to the people, "Fear not. You have done all this evil, but do not turn aside from following the Lord, and you shall serve the Lord with all your heart.21And you shall not turn aside, for then (you would go) after vain things which cannot profit or deliver, for they are vain.22For the Lord will not forsake His people for His great name's sake; for the Lord has sworn to make you a people for Himself.