The Daily Audio Bible

²² “‘Remember all my laws and rules, and obey them. I am leading you to your own land. If you obey my laws and rules, that land will not throw you out. ²³ I am forcing the people who live there out of that country ahead of you. Because they did all these sins I have hated them. Do not live the way those people lived.

²⁴ “‘I have told you that you will get their land. I will give it to you as your very own. It is a land where much food grows. I am the Lord your God. I have set you apart from other people and made you my own. ²⁵ So you must treat clean animals and birds differently from unclean animals. Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these unclean birds or animals or things that crawl on the ground. I have made them unclean for you. ²⁶ I have set you apart from other people. So you must be holy to me. This is because I am the Lord, and I am holy.

²⁷ “‘A man or woman who is a medium or a fortune-teller must be put to death. You must kill them with stones. They have brought it on themselves.’”

How Priests Must Behave

21 The Lord said to Moses, “Tell these things to Aaron’s sons, the priests: ‘A priest must not make himself unclean by touching a dead person. ² But if the dead person was one of his close relatives, he may touch him. The priest may make himself unclean if the dead person is his mother or father, son or daughter, brother or ³ unmarried sister. This sister is close to him because she has no husband. So the priest may make himself unclean for her if she dies. ⁴ But a priest must not make himself unclean if the dead person was only related to him by marriage.

⁵ “‘Priests must not shave their heads. They must not shave off the edges of their beards. They must not cut their bodies. ⁶ Priests must be holy to their God. They must show respect for God’s name. This is because they present the offerings made by fire to the Lord. This is the food of their God. So they must be holy.

⁷ “‘A priest serves God in a special way. So he must not marry an unclean prostitute or a divorced woman. ⁸ Treat the priest in a special way. Think of him as holy. This is because he offers up the food of your God. I am the Lord. I make you holy. And I am holy.

⁹ “‘If a priest’s daughter makes herself unclean by becoming a prostitute, she shames her father. She must be burned with fire.

¹⁰ “‘The high priest was chosen from among his brothers. The special olive oil used in appointing people and things to the service of the Lord was poured on his head. He was appointed to wear the priestly clothes. So he must not do things to show his sadness in public. He must not let his hair go uncombed. He must not tear his clothes. ¹¹ He must not go into a house where there is a dead body. He must not make himself unclean, even if it is his own father or mother. ¹² The high priest must not go out of the Holy Place. If he does and becomes unclean, he would make God’s Holy Place unclean. The special oil used in appointing priests was poured on the high priest’s head. This separated him from the rest of the people. I am the Lord.

¹³ “‘The high priest must marry a woman who is a virgin. ¹⁴ He must not marry a widow, a divorced woman or a prostitute. He must marry a virgin from his own people. ¹⁵ This is so the people will respect his children as his own. I am the Lord. I have set the high priest apart for his special job.’”

¹⁶ The Lord said to Moses, ¹⁷ “Tell Aaron: ‘Some of your descendants might have something wrong with them. If they do, they must never offer the special food of their God. ¹⁸ Anyone who has something wrong with him must not serve as priest. And he must not bring sacrifices to me. These people cannot serve as priests: blind men, crippled men, men with damaged faces, deformed men, ¹⁹ men with a crippled foot or hand, ²⁰ hunchbacks, dwarfs, men who have something wrong with their eyes, men who have an itching disease or a skin disease or men who have damaged sex glands.

²¹ “‘One of Aaron’s descendants might have something wrong with him. If he does, he cannot make the offerings made by fire to the Lord. He has something wrong with him. He cannot offer the food of his God. ²² But he is from the family of priests. So he may eat the most holy food. He may also eat the holy food. ²³ But he may not go through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. He may not go near the altar. He has something wrong with him. He must not make my Holy Place unfit. I am the Lord. I make these things holy.’”

²⁴ So Moses told these things to Aaron, Aaron’s sons and all the people of Israel.

22 The Lord said to Moses, ² “Tell Aaron and his sons: ‘The people of Israel will give offerings to me. These offerings are holy, and they are mine. So you must respect these offerings. This will show that you respect my holy name. I am the Lord. ³ The people of Israel made the offerings holy for me. One of your descendants might be unclean and touch the offerings. From now on, anyone who does must be separated from appearing before me. I am the Lord.

⁴ “‘One of Aaron’s descendants might have one of the harmful skin diseases. Or he might discharge a body fluid. He cannot eat the holy offerings until he becomes clean. He can become unclean from touching a dead body or from his own semen.^{[a] 5} He will become unclean if he touches any unclean crawling animal. He will become unclean if he touches an unclean person. It doesn’t matter what made him unclean. ⁶ Anyone who touches those things will become unclean until evening. That person must not eat the holy offerings. But if he washes with water, he may eat the holy offerings. ⁷ He will be clean only after the sun goes down. Then he may eat the holy offerings. The offerings are his food.

⁸ “‘A priest might find an animal that died by itself. Or he might find one that was killed by some other animal. He must not eat that dead animal. If he eats it, he will become unclean. I am the Lord.

⁹ “‘The priests must keep all the rules I have given. That way they will not become guilty. If they are careful, they will not die. I am the Lord. I have made them holy. ¹⁰ Only people in a priest’s family may eat the holy offerings. A visitor staying with the priest must not eat it. A hired worker must not eat it. ¹¹ But the priest might buy a slave with his own money. If he does, that slave may eat the holy offerings. Slaves who were born in the priest’s house may also eat the priest’s food. ¹² A priest’s daughter might marry a person who is not a priest. If she does, she must not eat any of the holy offerings. ¹³ The husband of a priest’s daughter might die. Or the daughter might become divorced. She might not have children to support her. So she might go back to her father’s house where she lived as a child. If this happens, she may eat some of her father’s food. But only people from a priest’s family may eat this food.

¹⁴ “‘Someone might eat some of the holy offering by mistake. That person must pay back the priest for that holy food. He must also pay the priest another one-fifth of the price of that food.

¹⁵ “‘The people of Israel will give offerings to the Lord. These gifts become holy. So the priest must not treat these holy things as though they were not holy. ¹⁶ The priests might allow someone who is not a priest to eat the holy offerings. If they do, they are treating those offerings as though they were not holy. The person who eats will become guilty. He will have to pay for it. I am the Lord. I make them holy.’”

9 Then Jesus said to the people, “I tell you the truth. Some of you standing here will see the kingdom of God come with power before you die.”

Jesus with Moses and Elijah

² Six days later Jesus took Peter, James, and John and went up on a high mountain. They were all alone there. While these followers watched, Jesus was changed. ³ His clothes became shining white, whiter than any person could make them. ⁴ Then two men appeared, talking with Jesus. The men were Moses and Elijah.^[a]

⁵ Peter said to Jesus, “Teacher, it is good that we are here. We will put three tents here—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” ⁶ Peter did not know what to say, because he and the others were so frightened.

⁷ Then a cloud came and covered them. A voice came from the cloud. The voice said, “This is my Son, and I love him. Obey him!”

⁸ Then Peter, James, and John looked around, but they saw only Jesus there alone with them.

⁹ As Jesus and his followers were walking back down the mountain, he commanded them, “Don’t tell anyone about the things you saw on the mountain. Wait till the Son of Man rises from death. Then you may tell.”

¹⁰ So the followers obeyed Jesus and said nothing about what they had seen. But they discussed what Jesus meant about rising from death.

¹¹ They asked Jesus, “Why do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?”

¹² Jesus answered, “They are right to say that Elijah must come first. Elijah makes all things the way they should be. But why does the Scripture say that the Son of Man will suffer much and that people will treat him as if he were nothing? ¹³ I tell you that Elijah has already come. And people did to him whatever they wanted to do. The Scriptures said this would happen to him.”

Jesus Heals a Sick Boy

¹⁴ Then Jesus, Peter, James, and John went to the other followers. They saw a great crowd around them. The teachers of the law were arguing with them. ¹⁵ But when the crowd saw Jesus, they were surprised and ran to welcome him.

¹⁶ Jesus asked, “What are you arguing about with the teachers of the law?”

¹⁷ A man answered, “Teacher, I brought my son to you. He has a spirit from the devil in him. This spirit stops him from talking. ¹⁸ The spirit attacks him and throws him on the ground. My son foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and becomes very stiff. I asked your followers to force the evil spirit out, but they couldn’t.”

¹⁹ Jesus answered, “You people don’t believe! How long must I stay with you? How long must I go on being patient with you? Bring the boy to me!”

²⁰ So the followers brought him to Jesus. As soon as the evil spirit saw Jesus, it attacked the boy. He fell down and rolled on the ground, foaming from his mouth.

²¹ Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has this been happening?”

The father answered, “Since he was very young. ²² The spirit often throws him into a fire or into water to kill him. If you can do anything for him, please have pity on us and help us.”

²³ Jesus said to the father, “You said, ‘If you can!’ All things are possible for him who believes.”

²⁴ Immediately the father cried out, “I do believe! Help me to believe more!”

²⁵ Jesus saw that a crowd was running there to see what was happening. So he spoke to the evil spirit, saying, “You deaf and dumb spirit—I command you to come out of this boy and never enter him again!”

²⁶ The evil spirit screamed and caused the boy to fall on the ground again. Then the spirit came out. The boy looked as if he were dead. And many people said, “He is dead!” ²⁷ But Jesus took hold of the boy’s hand and helped him to stand up.

²⁸ Jesus went into the house. His followers were alone with him there. They said, “Why couldn’t we force that evil spirit out?”

²⁹ Jesus answered, “That kind of spirit can only be forced out by prayer.”

A Prayer for Protection