Friday in Season after Pentecost

1Verse 1. I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valley. 2Verse 2. Like a lily among the thorns is my darling among the maidens. 3Verse 3. Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest is my beloved among the young men. I delight to sit in his shade, and his fruit is sweet to my taste. 4Verse 4. He has brought me to the house of wine, and his banner over me is love. 5Verse 5. Sustain me with raisins; refresh me with apples, for I am faint with love. 6Verse 6. His left hand is under my head, and his right arm embraces me. 7Verse 7. O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you by the gazelles and does of the field: Do not arouse or awaken love until the time is right.

15Verse 15. Then Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back. 16Verse 16. The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets. 17Verse 17. When Joshua heard the sound of the people shouting, he said to Moses, “The sound of war is in the camp.” 18Verse 18. But Moses replied: “It is neither the cry of victory nor the cry of defeat; I hear the sound of singing!” 19Verse 19. As Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, he burned with anger and threw the tablets out of his hands, shattering them at the base of the mountain. 20Verse 20. Then he took the calf they had made, burned it in the fire, ground it to powder, and scattered the powder over the face of the water. Then he forced the Israelites to drink it. 21Verse 21. “What did this people do to you,” Moses asked Aaron, “that you have led them into so great a sin?” 22Verse 22. “Do not be enraged, my lord,” Aaron replied. “You yourself know that the people are intent on evil. 23Verse 23. They told me, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him!’ 24Verse 24. So I said to them, ‘Whoever has gold, let him take it off,’ and they gave it to me. And when I threw it into the fire, out came this calf!” 25Verse 25. Moses saw that the people were out of control, for Aaron had let them run wild and become a laughingstock to their enemies. 26Verse 26. So Moses stood at the entrance to the camp and said, “Whoever is for the LORD, come to me.” And all the Levites gathered around him. 27Verse 27. He told them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Each of you men is to fasten his sword to his side, go back and forth through the camp from gate to gate, and slay his brother, his friend, and his neighbor.’” 28Verse 28. The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people fell dead. 29Verse 29. Afterward, Moses said, “Today you have been ordained for service to the LORD, since each man went against his son and his brother; so the LORD has bestowed a blessing on you this day.” 30Verse 30. The next day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a great sin. Now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” 31Verse 31. So Moses returned to the LORD and said, “Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made gods of gold for themselves. 32Verse 32. Yet now, if You would only forgive their sin.... But if not, please blot me out of the book that You have written.” 33Verse 33. The LORD replied to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot out of My book. 34Verse 34. Now go, lead the people to the place I described. Behold, My angel shall go before you. But on the day I settle accounts, I will punish them for their sin.” 35Verse 35. And the LORD sent a plague on the people because of what they had done with the calf that Aaron had made.