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MARCH 2
27 The fear of the LORD prolongs days, 21 For from within, out of the heart of men, pro-
But the years of the wicked will be ceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications,
shortened. murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness,
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28 The hope of the righteous will be deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy,
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gladness, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come
But the expectation of the wicked will from within and defile a man.”
perish. 24 From there He arose and went to the
29 The way of the LORD is strength for the region of Tyre and Sidon. And He entered a
upright, house and wanted no one to know it, but He
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But destruction will come to the could not be hidden. For a woman whose
workers of iniquity. young daughter had an unclean spirit heard
about Him, and she came and fell at His feet.
Mark 7:14–37 26 The woman was a Greek, a Syro-Phoenician
14 When He had called all the multitude to by birth, and she kept asking Him to cast the
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Himself, He said to them, “Hear Me, every- demon out of her daughter. But Jesus said to
one, and understand: There is nothing that her, “Let the children be filled first, for it is not
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enters a man from outside which can defile good to take the children’s bread and throw it
him; but the things which come out of him, to the little dogs.”
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those are the things that defile a man. If any- 28 And she answered and said to Him, “Yes,
one has ears to hear, let him hear!” Lord, yet even the little dogs under the table
17 When He had entered a house away from eat from the children’s crumbs.”
the crowd, His disciples asked Him concern- 29 Then He said to her, “For this saying go
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ing the parable. So He said to them, “Are you your way; the demon has gone out of your
thus without understanding also? Do you not daughter.”
30 And when she had come to her house, she
found the demon gone out, and her daughter
lying on the bed.
31 Again, departing from the region of Tyre
7:19 Since food is merely physical, no one and Sidon, He came through the midst of the
who eats it will defile his heart or inner person, region of Decapolis to the Sea of Galilee.
which is spiritual.Physical pollution,no matter 32 Then they brought to Him one who was deaf
how corrupt, cannot cause spiritual or moral and had an impediment in his speech, and
pollution. Neither can external ceremonies they begged Him to put His hand on him.
and rituals cleanse a person spiritually. thus 33 And He took him aside from the multitude,
purifying all foods. By overturning the tradi- and put His fingers in his ears, and He spat and
tion of hand washing, Jesus in effect removed 34
the restrictions regarding dietary laws. touched his tongue. Then, looking up to
heaven, He sighed, and said to him,
“Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.”
7:20 What comes out of a man. A person’s 35
defiled heart is expressed in both what he Immediately his ears were opened, and the
says and what he does. impediment of his tongue was loosed, and he
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spoke plainly. Then He commanded them
that they should tell no one; but the more He
perceive that whatever enters a man from out- commanded them, the more widely they pro-
side cannot defile him, because it does not claimed it. And they were astonished beyond
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enter his heart but his stomach, and is elimi- measure, saying, “He has done all things well.
nated, thus purifying all foods?” And He said, He makes both the deaf to hear and the mute to
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“What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. speak.”
DAY 2: Did Moses perhaps inflate the numbers of Jews in the wilderness?
Twice during the wilderness wanderings a census of the people of Israel was taken (Numbers
1:46; 26:51). Each time the resulting total count of fighting men exceeded 600,000.These numbers
indicate a population for Israel in the wilderness of around 2.5 million people at any time.Viewed
naturally, this total appears too high to sustain in wilderness conditions.
Before concluding that Moses inflated the numbers, several factors must be considered. First,
the Lord supernaturally took care of Israel for 40 years (Deut.8:1–5).Miraculous provision of food was
a daily event.Second,God also spelled out sanitary practices that prevented the kind of health crises
that might have occurred under those conditions.Third, while Israel wandered in the wilderness for

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