The Unclean Driven from the Camp

51 And the Lord said to Moses, 2 Give orders to the children of Israel to put outside the tent-circle every leper, and anyone who has any sort of flow from his body, and anyone who is unclean from the touch of the dead; 3 Male or female they are to be put outside the tent-circle, so that they may not make unclean my resting-place among them. 4 So the children of Israel did as the Lord had said to Moses, and put them outside the tent-circle.

The Law of Recompense

5 And the Lord said to Moses, 6 Say to the children of Israel, If a man or a woman does any of the sins of men, going against the word of the Lord, and is in the wrong; 7 Let them say openly what they have done; and make payment for the wrong done, with the addition of a fifth part, and give it to him to whom the wrong was done. 8 But if the man has no relation to whom the payment may be made, then the payment for sin made to the Lord will be the priest's, in addition to the sheep offered to take away his sin. 9 And every offering lifted up of all the holy things which the children of Israel give to the priest, will be his. 10 And every man's holy things will be his: whatever a man gives to the priest will be his.

The Law concerning Jealousy

11 And the Lord said to Moses, 12 Say to the children of Israel, If any man's wife does wrong, sinning against him 13 By taking as her lover another man, and keeps it secret so that her husband has no knowledge of it, and there is no witness against her, and she is not taken in the act; 14 If the spirit of doubt comes into her husband's heart, and he has doubts of his wife, with good cause; or if he has doubts of her without cause: 15 Then let him take her to the priest, offering for her the tenth part of an ephah of barley meal, without oil or perfume; for it is a meal offering of a bitter spirit, a meal offering keeping wrongdoing in mind. 16 And the priest will make her come near and put her before the Lord; 17 And the priest will take holy water in a pot and put in it dust from the floor of the House; 18 And he will make the woman come before the Lord with her hair loose, and will put the meal offering, the offering of a bitter spirit, in her hands; and the priest will take in his hand the bitter water causing the curse; 19 And he will make her take an oath, and say to her, If no man has been your lover and you have not been with another in place of your husband, you are free from this bitter water causing the curse; 20 But if you have been with another in place of your husband and have made yourself unclean with a lover: 21 Then the priest will put the oath of the curse on the woman, and say to her, May the Lord make you a curse and an oath among your people, sending on you wasting of the legs and disease of the stomach; 22 And this water of the curse will go into your body, causing disease of your stomach and wasting of your legs: and the woman will say, So be it. 23 And the priest will put these curses in a book, washing out the writing with the bitter water; 24 And he will give to the woman the bitter water for drink; and the bitter water causing the curse will go into her. 25 And the priest will take from her hand the meal offering of doubt, waving it before the Lord, and will take it to the altar; 26 And he will take some of it in his hand, burning it on the altar as a sign, and then he will give the woman the bitter water. 27 And it will be that if the woman has become unclean, sinning against her husband, when she has taken the bitter water it will go into her body, causing disease of the stomach and wasting of the legs, and she will be a curse among her people. 28 But if she is clean she will be free and will have offspring. 29 This is the law for testing a wife who goes with another in place of her husband and becomes unclean; 30 Or for a husband who, in a bitter spirit, has doubts in his heart about his wife; let him take her to the priest, who will put in force this law. 31 Then the man will be free from all wrong, and the woman's sin will be on her.

The Law for the Nazarite

61 And the Lord said to Moses, 2 Say to the children of Israel, If a man or a woman takes an oath to keep himself separate and give himself to the Lord; 3 He is to keep himself from wine and strong drink, and take no mixed wine or strong drink or any drink made from grapes, or any grapes, green or dry. 4 All the time he is separate he may take nothing made from the grape-vine, from its seeds to its skin. 5 All the time he is under his oath let no blade come near his head; till the days while he is separate are ended he is holy and his hair may not be cut. 6 All the time he is separate he may not come near any dead body. 7 He may not make himself unclean for his father or his mother, his sister or his brother, if death comes to them; because he is under an oath to keep himself separate for God. 8 All the time he is separate he is holy to the Lord. 9 If death comes suddenly to a man at his side, so that he becomes unclean, let his hair be cut off on the day when he is made clean, on the seventh day. 10 And on the eighth day let him take to the priest, at the door of the Tent of meeting, two doves or two young pigeons; 11 And the priest will give one for a sin-offering and the other for a burned offering to take away the sin which came on him on account of the dead, and he will make his head holy that same day. 12 And he will give to the Lord his days of being separate, offering a he-lamb of the first year as an offering for error: but the earlier days will be a loss, because he became unclean. 13 And this is the law for him who is separate, when the necessary days are ended: he is to come to the door of the Tent of meeting, 14 And make his offering to the Lord; one he-lamb of the first year, without a mark, for a burned offering, and one female lamb of the first year, without a mark, for a sin-offering, and one male sheep, without a mark, for peace-offerings, 15 And a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of the best meal mixed with oil, and thin unleavened cakes covered with oil, with their meal offering and drink offerings. 16 And the priest will take them before the Lord, and make his sin-offering and his burned offering; 17 Giving the sheep of the peace-offerings, with the basket of unleavened bread; and at the same time, the priest will make his meal offering and his drink offering. 18 Then let his long hair, the sign of his oath, be cut off at the door of the Tent of meeting, and let him put it on the fire on which the peace-offerings are burning. 19 And the priest will take the cooked leg of the sheep and one unleavened cake and one thin cake out of the basket, and put them on the hands of the separate one after his hair has been cut, 20 Waving them for a wave offering before the Lord; this is holy for the priest, together with the waved breast and the leg which is lifted up; after that, the man may take wine. 21 This is the law for him who takes an oath to keep himself separate, and for his offering to the Lord on that account, in addition to what he may be able to get; this is the law of his oath, which he will have to keep.

The Priestly Benediction

22 And the Lord said to Moses, 23 Say to Aaron and his sons, These are the words of blessing which are to be used by you in blessing the children of Israel; say to them, 24 May the Lord send his blessing on you and keep you: 25 May the light of the Lord's face be shining on you in grace: 26 May the Lord's approval be resting on you and may he give you peace. 27 So they will put my name on the children of Israel, and I will give them my blessing.

The Parable of the Sower

41 And again he was teaching by the seaside. And a very great number of people had come to him, so that he got into a boat on the sea and took his seat; and all the people were on the land by the seaside. 2 And he gave them teaching about a number of things in the form of stories, and said to them in his teaching, Give ear: 3 A man went out to put seed in the earth: 4 And while he was doing it, some was dropped by the wayside, and the birds came and took it for food. 5 And some went on the stones, where it had not much earth; and it came up straight away, because the earth was not deep: 6 And when the sun was high, it was burned; and because it had no root, it became dry and dead. 7 And some went among the thorns, and the thorns came up, and it had no room for growth and gave no fruit. 8 And some, falling on good earth, gave fruit, coming up and increasing, and giving thirty, sixty, and a hundred times as much. 9 And he said to them, Whoever has ears, let him give ear. 10 And when he was by himself, those who were round him with the twelve put questions to him about the purpose of the stories. 11 And he said to them, To you is given the secret of the kingdom of God, but to those who are outside, all things are given in the form of stories; 12 So that seeing they may see, and it will not be clear to them; and hearing it, they will not get the sense; for fear that they may be turned again to me and have forgiveness. 13 And he said to them, If you are not clear about this story, how will you be clear about the others? 14 The seed is the word. 15 And these are they by the wayside, where the word is planted; and when they have given ear, the Evil One comes straight away and takes away the word which has been planted in them. 16 And in the same way, these are they who are planted on the stones, who, when the word has come to their ears, straight away take it with joy; 17 And they have no root in themselves, but go on for a time; then, when trouble comes or pain, because of the word, they quickly become full of doubts. 18 And others are those planted among the thorns; these are they who have given ear to the word, 19 And the cares of this life, and the deceits of wealth, and the desire for other things coming in, put a stop to the growth of the word, and it gives no fruit. 20 And these are they who were planted on the good earth; such as give ear to the word, and take it into their hearts, and give fruit, thirty and sixty and a hundred times as much.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on Mark 4:1-20

Commentary on Mark 4:1-20

(Read Mark 4:1-20)

This parable contained instruction so important, that all capable of hearing were bound to attend to it. There are many things we are concerned to know; and if we understand not the plain truths of the gospel, how shall we learn those more difficult! It will help us to value the privileges we enjoy as disciples of Christ, if we seriously consider the deplorable state of all who have not such privileges. In the great field of the church, the word of God is dispensed to all. Of the many that hear the word of the gospel, but few receive it, so as to bring forth fruit. Many are much affected with the word for the present, who yet receive no abiding benefit. The word does not leave abiding impressions upon the minds of men, because their hearts are not duly disposed to receive it. The devil is very busy about careless hearers, as the fowls of the air go about the seed that lies above ground. Many continue in a barren, false profession, and go down to hell. Impressions that are not deep, will not last. Many do not mind heart-work, without which religion is nothing. Others are hindered from profiting by the word of God, by abundance of the world. And those who have but little of the world, may yet be ruined by indulging the body. God expects and requires fruit from those who enjoy the gospel, a temper of mind and Christian graces daily exercised, Christian duties duly performed. Let us look to the Lord, that by his new-creating grace our hearts may become good ground, and that the good seed of the word may produce in our lives those good words and works which are through Jesus Christ, to the praise and glory of God the Father.