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Flawless Animals for Sacrifice
17 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 18 “Speak to Aaron and to his sons and to all the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘(A)Any man of the house of Israel or of the aliens in Israel who presents his offering, whether it is any of their [a]votive or any of their freewill offerings, which they present to the Lord for a burnt offering— 19 (B)for you to be accepted—it must be a male without defect from the cattle, the sheep, or the goats. 20 (C)Whatever has a defect, you shall not offer, for it will not be accepted for you. 21 When a man offers a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord (D)to [b]fulfill a special vow or for a freewill offering, of the herd or of the flock, it must be perfect to be accepted; there shall be no defect in it. 22 Those that are blind or fractured or maimed or having a running sore or eczema or scabs, you shall not offer to the Lord, nor make of them an offering by fire on the altar to the Lord. 23 In respect to an ox or a lamb which has an [c]overgrown or stunted member, you may present it for a freewill offering, but for a vow it will not be accepted. 24 Also (E)anything with its testicles bruised or crushed or torn or cut, you shall not offer to the Lord, or [d]sacrifice in your land, 25 nor shall you accept any such from the hand of a foreigner for offering (F)as the [e]food of your God; for their corruption is in them, they have a defect, they shall not be accepted for you.’”
26 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 27 “When an ox or a sheep or a goat is born, it shall [f]remain (G)seven days [g]with its mother, and from the eighth day on it shall be accepted as a sacrifice of an offering by fire to the Lord. 28 (H)But, whether it is an ox or a sheep, you shall not kill both it and its young in one day. 29 When you sacrifice (I)a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Lord, you shall sacrifice it so that you may be accepted. 30 It shall be eaten on the same day, you shall leave none of it until morning; I am the Lord. 31 (J)So you shall keep My commandments, and do them; I am the Lord.
32 “You shall not profane My holy name, but I will be sanctified among the sons of Israel; I am the Lord who sanctifies you, 33 (K)who brought you out from the land of Egypt, to be your God; I am the Lord.”
Laws of Religious Festivals
23 The Lord spoke again to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘(L)The Lord’s appointed times which you shall (M)proclaim as holy convocations—My appointed times are these:
3 ‘(N)For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation. You shall not do any work; it is a sabbath to the Lord in all your dwellings.
4 ‘These are the (O)appointed times of the Lord, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at the times appointed for them. 5 (P)In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month [h]at twilight is the Lord’s Passover. 6 Then on the fifteenth day of the same month there is the (Q)Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. 7 On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall (R)not do any laborious work. 8 But for seven days you shall present an offering by fire to the Lord. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work.’”
9 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 10 “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you enter the land which I am going to give to you and (S)reap its harvest, then you shall bring in the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. 11 He shall wave the sheaf before the Lord for you to be accepted; on the day after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. 12 Now on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb one year old without defect for a burnt offering to the Lord. 13 Its (T)grain offering shall then be two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering by fire to the Lord for a soothing aroma, with its drink offering, a fourth of a [i]hin of wine. 14 Until this same day, until you have brought in the offering of your God, (U)you shall eat neither bread nor roasted grain nor new growth. It is to be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling places.
15 ‘(V)You shall also count for yourselves from the day after the sabbath, from the day when you brought in the sheaf of the wave offering; there shall be seven complete sabbaths. 16 You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh sabbath; then you shall present a (W)new grain offering to the Lord. 17 You shall bring in from your dwelling places two loaves of bread for a wave offering, made of two-tenths of an [j]ephah; they shall be of a fine flour, baked (X)with leaven as first fruits to the Lord. 18 Along with the bread you shall present seven one year old male lambs without defect, and a bull of the herd and two rams; they are to be a burnt offering to the Lord, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering by fire of a soothing aroma to the Lord. 19 You shall also offer (Y)one male goat for a sin offering and two male lambs one year old for a sacrifice of peace offerings. 20 The priest shall then wave them with the bread of the first fruits for a wave offering with two lambs before the Lord; they are to be holy to the Lord for the priest. 21 On this same day you shall (Z)make a proclamation as well; you are to have a holy convocation. You shall do no laborious (AA)work. It is to be a perpetual statute in all your dwelling places throughout your generations.
22 ‘(AB)When you reap the harvest of your land, moreover, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field nor gather the gleaning of your harvest; you are to leave them for the needy and the alien. I am the Lord your God.’”
23 Again the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 24 “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘(AC)In the seventh month on the first of the month you shall have a [k]rest, a (AD)reminder by blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. 25 You shall (AE)not do any laborious work, but you shall present an offering by fire to the Lord.’”
The Day of Atonement
26 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 27 “On exactly (AF)the tenth day of this seventh month is (AG)the day of atonement; it shall be a holy convocation for you, and you shall humble your souls and present an offering by fire to the Lord. 28 You shall not do any work on this same day, for it is a (AH)day of atonement, (AI)to make atonement on your behalf before the Lord your God. 29 If there is any [l]person who will not humble himself on this same day, (AJ)he shall be cut off from his people. 30 As for any person who does any work on this same day, that person I will destroy from among his people. 31 You shall do no work at all. It is to be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling places. 32 It is to be a sabbath of complete rest to you, and you shall humble your souls; on the ninth of the month at evening, from evening until evening you shall keep your sabbath.”
33 Again the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 34 “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘On (AK)the fifteenth of this seventh month is the (AL)Feast of Booths for seven days to the Lord. 35 On the first day is a holy convocation; you shall do (AM)no laborious work of any kind. 36 (AN)For seven days you shall present an offering by fire to the Lord. On (AO)the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation and present an offering by fire to the Lord; it is an assembly. You shall do no laborious work.
37 ‘These are (AP)the appointed times of the Lord which you shall proclaim as holy convocations, to present offerings by fire to the Lord—burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings, (AQ)each day’s matter on its own day— 38 besides those of the sabbaths of the Lord, and besides your gifts and besides all your [m]votive and freewill offerings, which you give to the Lord.
39 ‘On exactly the fifteenth day of the seventh month, (AR)when you have gathered in the crops of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the Lord for seven days, with a [n]rest on the first day and a [o]rest on the eighth day. 40 Now on the first day you shall take for yourselves the [p]foliage of beautiful trees, palm branches and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. 41 You shall thus celebrate it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month. 42 You shall [q]live (AS)in booths for seven days; all the native-born in Israel shall [r]live in booths, 43 so that (AT)your generations may know that I had the sons of Israel live in booths when I brought them out from the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.’” 44 So Moses declared to the sons of Israel (AU)the appointed times of the Lord.
Death and Resurrection Foretold
30 (A)From there they went out and began to go through Galilee, and He did not want anyone to know about it. 31 For He was teaching His disciples and telling them, “(B)The Son of Man is to be [a]delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him; and when He has been killed, He will rise three days later.” 32 But (C)they [b]did not understand this statement, and they were afraid to ask Him.
33 (D)They came to Capernaum; and when He [c]was in (E)the house, He began to question them, “What were you discussing on the way?” 34 But they kept silent, for on the way (F)they had discussed with one another which of them was the greatest. 35 Sitting down, He called the twelve and *said to them, “(G)If anyone wants to be first, [d]he shall be last of all and servant of all.” 36 Taking a child, He set him [e]before them, and taking him in His arms, He said to them, 37 “(H)Whoever receives [f]one child like this in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me does not receive Me, but Him who sent Me.”
Dire Warnings
38 (I)John said to Him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and (J)we tried to prevent him because he was not following us.” 39 But Jesus said, “Do not hinder him, for there is no one who will perform a miracle in My name, and be able soon afterward to speak evil of Me. 40 (K)For he who is not against us is [g]for us. 41 For (L)whoever gives you a cup of water to drink [h]because of your name as followers of Christ, truly I say to you, he will not lose his reward.
42 “(M)Whoever causes one of these [i]little ones who believe to stumble, it [j]would be better for him if, with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, he [k]had been cast into the sea. 43 (N)If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than, having your two hands, to go into [l](O)hell, into the (P)unquenchable fire, 44 [[m]where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.] 45 If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame, than, having your two feet, to be cast into [n](Q)hell, 46 [[o]where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.] 47 (R)If your eye causes you to stumble, throw it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be cast into [p](S)hell, 48 (T)where their worm does not die, and (U)the fire is not quenched.
49 “For everyone will be salted with fire. 50 Salt is good; but (V)if the salt becomes unsalty, with what will you [q]make it salty again? (W)Have salt in yourselves, and (X)be at peace with one another.”
Jesus’ Teaching about Divorce
10 (Y)Getting up, He *went from there to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan; crowds *gathered around Him again, and, (Z)according to His custom, He once more began to teach them.
2 Some Pharisees came up to Jesus, testing Him, and began to question Him whether it was lawful for a man to [r]divorce a wife. 3 And He answered and said to them, “What did Moses command you?” 4 They said, “(AA)Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and [s]send her away.” 5 But Jesus said to them, “[t](AB)Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. 6 But (AC)from the beginning of creation, God (AD)made them male and female. 7 (AE)For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother[u], 8 (AF)and the two shall become one flesh; so they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9 What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.”
10 In the house the disciples began questioning Him about this again. 11 And He *said to them, “(AG)Whoever [v]divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her; 12 and (AH)if she herself [w]divorces her husband and marries another man, she is committing adultery.”
Former Deliverances and Present Troubles.
For the choir director. A [a]Maskil of the sons of Korah.
44 O God, we have heard with our ears,
Our (A)fathers have told us
The (B)work that You did in their days,
In the (C)days of old.
2 You with Your own hand (D)drove out the nations;
Then You (E)planted them;
You (F)afflicted the peoples,
Then You (G)spread them abroad.
3 For by their own sword they (H)did not possess the land,
And their own arm did not save them,
But Your right hand and Your (I)arm and the (J)light of Your presence,
For You (K)favored them.
4 You are (L)my King, O God;
(M)Command [b]victories for Jacob.
5 Through You we will (N)push back our adversaries;
Through Your name we will (O)trample down those who rise up against us.
6 For I will (P)not trust in my bow,
Nor will my sword save me.
7 But You (Q)have saved us from our adversaries,
And You have (R)put to shame those who hate us.
8 In God we have (S)boasted all day long,
And we will (T)give thanks to Your name forever. [c]Selah.
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.