Contemplative Bible Reading

Numbers 17:10 (New Living Translation) And the Lord said to Moses: “Place Aaron’s staff permanently before the Ark of the Covenant to serve as a warning to rebels. This should put an end to their complaints against me and prevent any further deaths.” In Numbers 16, we have the (hi)story of people who complained that […]

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Leviticus 6:4-5 (New Living Translation) 4 If you have sinned in any of these ways, you are guilty. You must give back whatever you stole, or the money you took by extortion, or the security deposit, or the lost property you found, 5 or anything obtained by swearing falsely. You must make restitution by paying […]

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Exodus 2:11 and 2:19 (New Living Translation 11 Many years later, when Moses had grown up, he went out to visit his own people, the Hebrews, and he saw how hard they were forced to work. During his visit, he saw an Egyptian beating one of his fellow Hebrews. 19 “An Egyptian rescued us from […]

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Genesis 22:18 (New Living Translation) And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed—all because you have obeyed me. Abraham had just acted faithfully towards God. He had followed God’s command to sacrifice his only son Isaac. As a result of Abraham’s faith, his descendants—one of whom was Jesus of Nazareth—would […]

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Malachi 1:8 (New Living Translation) When you give blind animals as sacrifices, isn’t that wrong? And isn’t it wrong to offer animals that are crippled and diseased? Try giving gifts like that to your governor, and see how pleased he is!” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. If you are of a certain age, you […]

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Zechariah 7:8-10 (New Living Translation) 8 Then this message came to Zechariah from the Lord: 9 “This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Judge fairly, and show mercy and kindness to one another. 10 Do not oppress widows, orphans, foreigners, and the poor. And do not scheme against each other. God tells the […]

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Amos 5:15 (New Living Translation) Hate evil and love what is good;turn your courts into true halls of justice. God is speaking to the people through the prophet Amos. The people have been living corrupt lives. They stole from one another. They went to court for justice. The judges were bribed. They rich stole from […]

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Hosea 14:9 (English Standard Version) Whoever is wise, let him understand these things;whoever is discerning, let him know them;for the ways of the Lord are right,and the upright walk in them,but transgressors stumble in them. The prophet Hosea is delivering the words of God to the people. There are two kinds of people. Some people […]

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Zechariah 3:3-4 (New Living Translation) 3 Jeshua’s clothing was filthy as he stood there before the angel. 4 So the angel said to the others standing there, “Take off his filthy clothes.” And turning to Jeshua he said, “See, I have taken away your sins, and now I am giving you these fine new clothes.” […]

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Isaiah 59:9-10 (New Living Translation) 9 So there is no justice among us,and we know nothing about right living.We look for light but find only darkness.We look for bright skies but walk in gloom.10 We grope like the blind along a wall,feeling our way like people without eyes.Even at brightest noontime,we stumble as though it […]

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