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22 ‘You are therefore to keep all My statutes and all My ordinances and do them, so that the land to which I am bringing you to [a]live will not (A)spew you out. 23 Moreover, you shall not [b]follow (B)the customs of the nation which I will drive out before you, for they did all these things, and (C)therefore I have abhorred them. 24 Hence I have said to you, “(D)You are to possess their land, and I Myself will give it to you to possess it, a land flowing with milk and honey.” I am the Lord your God, who has (E)separated you from the peoples. 25 (F)You are therefore to make a distinction between the clean animal and the unclean, and between the unclean bird and the clean; and you shall not make [c]yourselves detestable by animal or by bird or by anything [d]that creeps on the ground, which I have separated for you as unclean. 26 Thus you are to be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy; and I (G)have set you apart from the peoples to be Mine.
27 ‘Now a man or a woman (H)who is a medium or a [e]spiritist shall surely be put to death. They shall be stoned with stones, their bloodguiltiness is upon them.’”
Regulations concerning Priests
21 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them:
‘(I)No one shall defile himself for a dead person among his people, 2 (J)except for his relatives who are nearest to him, his mother and his father and his son and his daughter and his brother, 3 also for his virgin sister, who is near to him [f]because she has had no husband; for her he may defile himself. 4 He shall not defile himself as a [g]relative by marriage among his people, and so profane himself. 5 (K)They shall not make any baldness on their heads, (L)nor shave off the edges of their beards, (M)nor make any cuts in their flesh. 6 They shall be holy to their God and (N)not profane the name of their God, for they present the offerings by fire [h]to the Lord, (O)the food of their God; so they shall be holy. 7 (P)They shall not take a woman who is profaned by harlotry, nor shall they take a woman divorced from her husband; for he is holy to his God. 8 You shall consecrate him, therefore, for he offers (Q)the food of your God; he shall be holy to you; for I the Lord, who sanctifies you, am holy. 9 (R)Also the daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by harlotry, she profanes her father; she shall be burned with fire.
10 ‘The priest who is the highest among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil has been poured and [i]who has been consecrated to wear the garments, (S)shall not [j]uncover his head nor tear his clothes; 11 (T)nor shall he approach any dead person, nor defile himself even for his father or his mother; 12 (U)nor shall he go out of the sanctuary nor profane the sanctuary of his God, for (V)the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is on him; I am the Lord. 13 He shall take a wife in her virginity. 14 (W)A widow, or a divorced woman, or one who is profaned by harlotry, these he may not take; but rather he is to [k]marry a virgin of his own people, 15 so that he will not profane his [l]offspring among his people; for I am the Lord who sanctifies him.’”
16 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 17 “Speak to Aaron, saying, ‘No man of your [m]offspring throughout their generations who has a defect shall approach to offer the (X)food of his God. 18 (Y)For no one who has a defect shall approach: a blind man, or a lame man, or he who has a [n](Z)disfigured face, or any deformed limb, 19 or a man who has a broken foot or broken hand, 20 or a hunchback or a dwarf, or one who has a [o]defect in his eye or eczema or scabs or (AA)crushed testicles. 21 No man among the [p]descendants of Aaron the priest who has a defect is to come near to offer the Lord’s offerings by fire; since he has a defect, he shall not come near to offer (AB)the food of his God. 22 He may eat (AC)the food of his God, both of the most holy and of the holy, 23 only he shall not go in to the veil or come near the altar because he has a defect, so that he will not profane My sanctuaries. For I am the Lord who sanctifies them.’” 24 So Moses spoke to Aaron and to his sons and to all the sons of Israel.
Sundry Rules for Priests
22 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Tell Aaron and his sons to be careful with the holy gifts of the sons of Israel, which they dedicate to Me, so as not to profane My holy name; I am the Lord. 3 Say to them, ‘(AD)If any man among all your [q]descendants throughout your generations approaches the holy gifts which the sons of Israel dedicate to the Lord, while he has an uncleanness, that person shall be cut off from before Me; I am the Lord. 4 (AE)No man of the [r]descendants of Aaron, who is a leper or who has a discharge, may eat of the holy gifts until he is clean. (AF)And if one touches anything made unclean by a corpse or if (AG)a man has a seminal emission, 5 or (AH)if a man touches any teeming things by which he is made unclean, or any man by whom he is made unclean, whatever his uncleanness; 6 a [s]person who touches any such shall be unclean until evening, and shall not eat of the holy gifts unless he has bathed his [t]body in water. 7 But when the sun sets, he will be clean, and afterward he shall eat of the holy gifts, for (AI)it is his [u]food. 8 He shall not eat (AJ)an animal which dies or is torn by beasts, becoming unclean by it; I am the Lord. 9 They shall therefore keep (AK)My charge, so that (AL)they will not bear sin because of it and die thereby because they profane it; I am the Lord who sanctifies them.
10 ‘(AM)No [v]layman, however, is to eat the holy gift; a sojourner with the priest or a hired man shall not eat of the holy gift. 11 (AN)But if a priest buys a [w]slave as his property with his money, [x]that one may eat of it, and those who are born in his house may eat of his [y]food. 12 If a priest’s daughter is married to a [z]layman, she shall not eat of the [aa]offering of the gifts. 13 But if a priest’s daughter becomes a widow or divorced, and has no child and returns to her father’s house as in her youth, she shall eat of her father’s [ab]food; (AO)but no [ac]layman shall eat of it. 14 (AP)But if a man eats a holy gift unintentionally, then he shall add to it a fifth of it and shall give the holy gift to the priest. 15 (AQ)They shall not profane the holy gifts of the sons of Israel which they offer to the Lord, 16 and so cause them (AR)to bear [ad]punishment for guilt by eating their holy gifts; for I am the Lord who sanctifies them.’”
The Transfiguration
9 And Jesus was saying to them, “(A)Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.”
2 (B)Six days later, Jesus *took with Him (C)Peter and [a]James and John, and *brought them up on a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them; 3 and (D)His garments became radiant and exceedingly white, as no launderer on earth can whiten them. 4 Elijah appeared to them along with Moses; and they were talking with Jesus. 5 Peter *said to Jesus, “(E)Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; (F)let us make three [b]tabernacles, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 6 For he did not know what to answer; for they became terrified. 7 Then a cloud [c]formed, overshadowing them, and (G)a voice [d]came out of the cloud, “(H)This is My beloved Son, [e]listen to Him!” 8 All at once they looked around and saw no one with them anymore, except Jesus alone.
9 (I)As they were coming down from the mountain, He (J)gave them orders not to relate to anyone what they had seen, [f]until the Son of Man rose from the dead. 10 They [g]seized upon [h]that statement, discussing with one another [i]what rising from the dead meant. 11 They asked Him, saying, “Why is it that the scribes say that (K)Elijah must come first?” 12 And He said to them, “Elijah does first come and restore all things. And yet how is it written of (L)the Son of Man that (M)He will suffer many things and be treated with contempt? 13 But I say to you that Elijah has [j]indeed come, and they did to him whatever they wished, just as it is written of him.”
All Things Possible
14 (N)When they came back to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them, and some scribes arguing with them. 15 Immediately, when the entire crowd saw Him, they were (O)amazed and began running up to greet Him. 16 And He asked them, “What are you discussing with them?” 17 And one of the crowd answered Him, “Teacher, I brought You my son, possessed with a spirit which makes him mute; 18 and [k]whenever it seizes him, it [l]slams him to the ground and he foams at the mouth, and grinds his teeth and [m]stiffens out. I told Your disciples to cast it out, and they could not do it.” 19 And He *answered them and *said, “O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to Me!” 20 They brought [n]the boy to Him. When he saw Him, immediately the spirit threw him into a convulsion, and falling to the ground, he began rolling around and foaming at the mouth. 21 And He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. 22 It has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!” 23 And Jesus said to him, “‘If You can?’ (P)All things are possible to him who believes.” 24 Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do believe; help my unbelief.” 25 When Jesus saw that (Q)a crowd was [o]rapidly gathering, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You deaf and mute spirit, I [p]command you, come out of him and do not enter him [q]again.” 26 After crying out and throwing him into terrible convulsions, it came out; and the boy became so much like a corpse that most of them said, “He is dead!” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and raised him; and he got up. 28 When He came (R)into the house, His disciples began questioning Him privately, “Why could we not drive it out?” 29 And He said to them, “This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer.”
Prayer for Deliverance.
43 (A)Vindicate me, O God, and (B)plead my case against an ungodly nation;
[a]O deliver me from (C)the deceitful and unjust man!
2 For You are the (D)God of my strength; why have You (E)rejected me?
Why do I go (F)mourning [b]because of the oppression of the enemy?
18 He (A)who conceals hatred has lying lips,
And he who spreads slander is a fool.
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.