July 31, 2027

1The LORD said to Moses on Mount Sinai: 8The Jubilee Year. You shall count seven weeks of years—seven times seven years—such that the seven weeks of years amount to forty-nine years. 9Then, on the tenth day of the seventh month let the ram’s horn resound; on this, the Day of Atonement, the ram’s horn blast shall resound throughout your land. 10You shall treat this fiftieth year as sacred. You shall proclaim liberty in the land for all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to your own property, each of you to your own family. 11This fiftieth year is your year of jubilee; you shall not sow, nor shall you reap the aftergrowth or pick the untrimmed vines, 12since this is the jubilee. It shall be sacred for you. You may only eat what the field yields of itself. 13In this year of jubilee, then, each of you shall return to your own property. 14Therefore, when you sell any land to your neighbor or buy any from your neighbor, do not deal unfairly with one another. 15On the basis of the number of years since the last jubilee you shall purchase the land from your neighbor; and so also, on the basis of the number of years of harvest, that person shall sell it to you. 16When the years are many, the price shall be so much the more; when the years are few, the price shall be so much the less. For it is really the number of harvests that the person sells you. 17Do not deal unfairly with one another, then; but stand in fear of your God. I, the LORD, am your God.

2I - May God be gracious to us and bless us; may his face shine upon us. Selah 3So shall your way be known upon the earth, your victory among all the nations. 5II - May the nations be glad and rejoice; for you judge the peoples with fairness, you guide the nations upon the earth. Selah 7III - The earth has yielded its harvest; God, our God, blesses us. 8May God bless us still; that the ends of the earth may revere him.

10Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

1At that time Herod the tetrarch heard of the reputation of Jesus 2and said to his servants, “This man is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead; that is why mighty powers are at work in him.” 3The Death of John the Baptist. Now Herod had arrested John, bound [him], and put him in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, 4for John had said to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” 5Although he wanted to kill him, he feared the people, for they regarded him as a prophet. 6But at a birthday celebration for Herod, the daughter of Herodias performed a dance before the guests and delighted Herod 7so much that he swore to give her whatever she might ask for. 8Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.” 9The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and the guests who were present, he ordered that it be given, 10and he had John beheaded in the prison. 11His head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl, who took it to her mother. 12His disciples came and took away the corpse and buried him; and they went and told Jesus. The Return of the Twelve and the Feeding of the Five Thousand.