Laws About Sacrifices

15 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, ^(A)When you come into the land you are to inhabit, which I am giving you, ³ and ^(B)you offer to the Lord from the herd or from the flock a food offering^[a] or a burnt offering or a sacrifice, ^(C)to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering or ^(D)at your appointed feasts, to make a ^(E)pleasing aroma to the Lord, ⁴ then ^(F)he who brings his offering shall offer to the Lord ^(G)a grain offering of a tenth of an ephah^[b] of fine flour, ^(H)mixed with a quarter of a hin^[c] of oil; ⁵ and you shall offer with the burnt offering, or for the sacrifice, a quarter of a hin of ^(I)wine for the drink offering for each lamb. ^6 (J)Or for a ram, you shall offer for a grain offering two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a third of a hin of oil. ⁷ And for the drink offering you shall offer a third of a hin of wine, a ^(K)pleasing aroma to the Lord. ⁸ And when you offer a bull as a burnt offering or sacrifice, to ^(L)fulfill a vow or for ^(M)peace offerings to the Lord, ⁹ then one shall offer ^(N)with the bull a grain offering of three tenths of an ephah of fine flour, mixed with half a hin of oil. ¹⁰ And you shall offer for the drink offering half a hin of wine, as a food offering, a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

^11 (O)“Thus it shall be done for each bull or ram, or for each lamb or young goat. ¹² As many as you offer, so shall you do with each one, as many as there are. ¹³ Every native Israelite shall do these things in this way, in offering a food offering, with a pleasing aroma to the Lord. ¹⁴ And if a stranger is sojourning with you, or anyone is living permanently among you, and he wishes to offer a food offering, with a pleasing aroma to the Lord, he shall do as you do. ¹⁵ For the assembly, ^(P)there shall be one statute for you and for the stranger who sojourns with you, a statute forever throughout your generations. You and the sojourner shall be alike before the Lord. ¹⁶ One law and one rule shall be for you and for the stranger who sojourns with you.”

¹⁷ The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ^18 (Q)“Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land to which I bring you ¹⁹ and when you eat of ^(R)the bread of the land, you shall present a contribution to the Lord. ^20 (S)Of the first of your dough you shall present a loaf as a contribution; like a ^(T)contribution from the threshing floor, so shall you present it. ^21 (U)Some of the first of your dough you shall give to the Lord as a contribution throughout your generations.

Laws About Unintentional Sins

^22 (V)“But if you sin unintentionally,^[d] and do not observe all these commandments that the Lord has spoken to Moses, ²³ all that the Lord has commanded you by Moses, from the day that the Lord gave commandment, and onward throughout your generations, ²⁴ then if it was done unintentionally ^(W)without the knowledge of the congregation, all the congregation shall offer one bull from the herd for a burnt offering, a pleasing aroma to the Lord, ^(X)with its grain offering and its drink offering, according to the rule, and ^(Y)one male goat for a sin offering. ^25 (Z)And the priest shall make atonement for all the congregation of the people of Israel, and they shall be forgiven, because it was a mistake, and they have brought their offering, a food offering to the Lord, and their sin offering before the Lord for their mistake. ²⁶ And all the congregation of the people of Israel shall be forgiven, and the stranger who sojourns among them, because the whole population was involved in the mistake.

^27 (AA)“If one person sins unintentionally, he shall offer a female goat a year old for a sin offering. ^28 (AB)And the priest shall make atonement before the Lord for the person who makes a mistake, when he sins unintentionally, to make atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven. ^29 (AC)You shall have one law for him who does anything unintentionally, for him who is native among the people of Israel and for the stranger who sojourns among them. ^30 (AD)But the person who does anything with a high hand, whether he is native or a sojourner, reviles the Lord, and that person shall be cut off from among his people. ³¹ Because he has ^(AE)despised the word of the Lord and has broken his commandment, that person shall be utterly cut off; his iniquity shall be on him.”

A Sabbathbreaker Executed

³² While the people of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man ^(AF)gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. ³³ And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation. ^34 (AG)They put him in custody, because it had not been made clear what should be done to him. ³⁵ And the Lord said to Moses, ^(AH)“The man shall be put to death; all the congregation shall ^(AI)stone him with stones outside the camp.” ³⁶ And all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death with stones, as the Lord commanded Moses.

Tassels on Garments

³⁷ The Lord said to Moses, ³⁸ “Speak to the people of Israel, and tell them to ^(AJ)make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a cord of blue on the tassel of each corner. ³⁹ And it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the Lord, to do them, ^(AK)not to follow^[e] after your own heart and your own eyes, which you are inclined ^(AL)to whore after. ⁴⁰ So you shall remember and do all my commandments, and be ^(AM)holy to your God. ^41 (AN)I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I am the Lord your God.”

Korah's Rebellion

16 Now ^(AO)Korah the son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, and ^(AP)Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men. ² And they rose up before Moses, with a number of the people of Israel, 250 chiefs of the congregation, chosen from the assembly, well-known men. ^3 (AQ)They assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron and said to them, ^(AR)“You have gone too far! For ^(AS)all in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?” ⁴ When Moses heard it, ^(AT)he fell on his face, ⁵ and he said to Korah and all his company, “In the morning the Lord will show ^(AU)who is his,^[f] and who is ^(AV)holy, and will bring him near to him. The one ^(AW)whom he chooses he will ^(AX)bring near to him. ⁶ Do this: take ^(AY)censers, Korah and all his company; ⁷ put fire in them and put incense on them before the Lord tomorrow, and the man whom the Lord chooses shall be the holy one. ^(AZ)You have gone too far, sons of Levi!” ⁸ And Moses said to Korah, “Hear now, you sons of Levi: ⁹ is it ^(BA)too small a thing for you that the God of Israel has ^(BB)separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself, to do service in the tabernacle of the Lord and to stand before the congregation to minister to them, ¹⁰ and that he has brought you near him, and all your brothers the sons of Levi with you? And would you seek the priesthood also? ¹¹ Therefore it is against the Lord that you and all your company have gathered together. What is ^(BC)Aaron that you grumble against him?”

¹² And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and they said, “We will not come up. ¹³ Is it ^(BD)a small thing that you have brought us up out of ^(BE)a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, that you must also ^(BF)make yourself a prince over us? ¹⁴ Moreover, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you put out the eyes of these men? We will not come up.” ¹⁵ And Moses was very angry and said to the Lord, ^(BG)“Do not respect their offering. ^(BH)I have not taken one donkey from them, and I have not harmed one of them.”

¹⁶ And Moses said to Korah, “Be present, you and all your company, ^(BI)before the Lord, you and they, and Aaron, tomorrow. ¹⁷ And ^(BJ)let every one of you take his censer and put incense on it, and every one of you bring before the Lord his censer, ^(BK)250 censers; you also, and Aaron, each his censer.” ¹⁸ So every man took his censer and put fire in them and laid incense on them and stood at the entrance of the tent of meeting with Moses and Aaron. ¹⁹ Then Korah assembled all the congregation against them at the entrance of the tent of meeting. ^(BL)And the glory of the Lord appeared to all the congregation.

²⁰ And the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ^21 (BM)“Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them ^(BN)in a moment.” ²² And they ^(BO)fell on their faces and said, “O God, ^(BP)the God of the spirits of all flesh, ^(BQ)shall one man sin, and will you be angry with all the congregation?” ²³ And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁴ “Say to the congregation, Get away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”

²⁵ Then Moses rose and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. ²⁶ And he spoke to the congregation, saying, ^(BR)“Depart, please, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest you be swept away with all their sins.” ²⁷ So they got away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. And Dathan and Abiram came out and stood ^(BS)at the door of their tents, together with their wives, their sons, and their little ones. ²⁸ And Moses said, “Hereby you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, and that it has not been ^(BT)of my own accord. ²⁹ If these men die as all men die, or if they are visited by the fate of all mankind, ^(BU)then the Lord has not sent me. ³⁰ But if the Lord creates something new, and ^(BV)the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they ^(BW)go down alive into Sheol, then you shall know that these men have despised the Lord.”

^31 (BX)And as soon as he had finished speaking all these words, the ground under them split apart. ³² And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and ^(BY)all the people who belonged to Korah and all their goods. ³³ So they and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol, and the earth closed over them, and ^(BZ)they perished from the midst of the assembly. ³⁴ And all Israel who were around them fled at their cry, for they said, “Lest the earth swallow us up!” ³⁵ And ^(CA)fire came out from the Lord and consumed ^(CB)the 250 men offering the incense.

^36 [g] Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ³⁷ “Tell Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest to take up the censers out of the blaze. Then scatter the fire far and wide, for they have become holy. ³⁸ As for the censers of ^(CC)these men who have sinned at the cost of their lives, let them be made into hammered plates as a covering for the altar, for they offered them before the Lord, and they became holy. ^(CD)Thus they shall be a sign to the people of Israel.” ³⁹ So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers, which those who were burned had offered, and they were hammered out as a covering for the altar, ⁴⁰ to be a reminder to the people of Israel, so ^(CE)that no outsider, who is not of the descendants of Aaron, should draw near to burn incense before the Lord, lest he become like Korah and his company—as the Lord said to him through Moses.

⁴¹ But on the next day all the congregation of the people of Israel ^(CF)grumbled against Moses and against Aaron, saying, “You have killed the people of the Lord.” ⁴² And when the congregation had assembled against Moses and against Aaron, they turned toward the tent of meeting. And behold, ^(CG)the cloud covered it, and ^(CH)the glory of the Lord appeared. ⁴³ And Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of meeting, ⁴⁴ and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ^45 (CI)“Get away from the midst of this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.” ^(CJ)And they fell on their faces. ⁴⁶ And Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, and put fire on it from off the altar and lay incense on it and carry it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, for ^(CK)wrath has gone out from the Lord; the plague has begun.” ⁴⁷ So Aaron took it as Moses said and ran into the midst of the assembly. And behold, the plague had already begun among the people. And he put on the incense and made atonement for the people. ⁴⁸ And he stood between the dead and the living, and ^(CL)the plague was stopped. ⁴⁹ Now those who died in the plague were 14,700, ^(CM)besides those who died in the affair of Korah. ⁵⁰ And Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance of the tent of meeting, when the plague was stopped.

Women Accompanying Jesus

8 Soon afterward he went on ^(A)through cities and villages, proclaiming and ^(B)bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with him, ² and also ^(C)some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: ^(D)Mary, called Magdalene, ^(E)from whom seven demons had gone out, ³ and ^(F)Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's household manager, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them^[a] out of their means.

The Parable of the Sower

^4 (G)And when a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable, ^5 (H)“A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. ⁶ And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, ^(I)it withered away, because it had no moisture. ⁷ And some fell among ^(J)thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. ⁸ And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded ^(K)a hundredfold.” As he said these things, he called out, ^(L)“He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

The Purpose of the Parables

⁹ And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, ¹⁰ he said, ^(M)“To you it has been given to know ^(N)the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so ^(O)that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’ ^11 (P)Now the parable is this: The seed is ^(Q)the word of God. ¹² The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not ^(R)believe and be saved. ¹³ And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it ^(S)with joy. But these have no root; they ^(T)believe for a while, and in time of testing ^(U)fall away. ¹⁴ And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but ^(V)as they go on their way they are choked by the ^(W)cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. ¹⁵ As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and ^(X)bear fruit ^(Y)with patience.

A Lamp Under a Jar

^16 (Z)(AA)“No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. ^17 (AB)For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light. ^18 (AC)Take care then how you hear, ^(AD)for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away.”

Jesus' Mother and Brothers

^19 (AE)Then his mother and ^(AF)his brothers^[b] came to him, but they could not reach him because of the crowd. ²⁰ And he was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see you.” ²¹ But he answered them, “My mother and my brothers are those ^(AG)who hear the word of God and do it.”

Jesus Calms a Storm

^22 (AH)One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of ^(AI)the lake.” So they set out, ²³ and as they sailed he fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on ^(AJ)the lake, and they were filling with water and were in danger. ²⁴ And they went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And he awoke and ^(AK)rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, ^(AL)and there was a calm. ²⁵ He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they ^(AM)were afraid, and they ^(AN)marveled, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that ^(AO)he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?”

Jesus Heals a Man with a Demon

^26 (AP)Then they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes,^[c] which is opposite Galilee. ²⁷ When Jesus^[d] had stepped out on land, there met him a man from the city who had demons. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he had not lived in a house ^(AQ)but among the tombs. ²⁸ When he saw Jesus, he ^(AR)cried out and fell down before him and said ^(AS)with a loud voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, ^(AT)Son of ^(AU)the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me.” ²⁹ For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many a time it had seized him. He was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon ^(AV)into the desert.) ³⁰ Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, ^(AW)“Legion,” for many demons had entered him. ³¹ And they begged him not to command them to depart into ^(AX)the abyss. ³² Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. ³³ Then the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into ^(AY)the lake and drowned.

³⁴ When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country. ³⁵ Then people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone, sitting ^(AZ)at the feet of Jesus, ^(BA)clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. ³⁶ And those who had seen it told them how the demon-possessed^[e] man had been healed. ³⁷ Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes ^(BB)asked him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. ³⁸ The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, ³⁹ “Return to your home, and ^(BC)declare how much God has done for you.” And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.

Jesus Heals a Woman and Jairus's Daughter

⁴⁰ Now when Jesus returned, the crowd ^(BD)welcomed him, for they were all waiting for him. ^41 (BE)And there came a man named Jairus, who was ^(BF)a ruler of the synagogue. And falling at Jesus' feet, he implored him to come to his house, ⁴² for he had ^(BG)an only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she was dying.

As Jesus went, the people ^(BH)pressed around him. ⁴³ And there was a woman ^(BI)who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and though she had spent all her ^(BJ)living on physicians,^[f] she could not be healed by anyone. ⁴⁴ She came up behind him and touched ^(BK)the fringe of his garment, and ^(BL)immediately her discharge of blood ceased. ⁴⁵ And Jesus said, “Who was it that touched me?” When all denied it, Peter^[g] said, “Master, the crowds surround you and are pressing in on you!” ⁴⁶ But Jesus said, “Someone touched me, for I perceive that ^(BM)power has gone out from me.” ⁴⁷ And when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling, and falling down before him declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him, and how she had been immediately healed. ⁴⁸ And he said to her, “Daughter, ^(BN)your faith has made you well; ^(BO)go in peace.”

⁴⁹ While he was still speaking, someone from ^(BP)the ruler's house came and said, “Your daughter is dead; ^(BQ)do not trouble ^(BR)the Teacher any more.” ⁵⁰ But Jesus on hearing this answered him, “Do not fear; only believe, and she will be well.” ⁵¹ And when he came to the house, he allowed no one to enter with him, except ^(BS)Peter and ^(BT)John and James, and the father and mother of the child. ⁵² And all were weeping and ^(BU)mourning for her, but he ^(BV)said, “Do not weep, for ^(BW)she is not dead but ^(BX)sleeping.” ⁵³ And they laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. ⁵⁴ But ^(BY)taking her by the hand he called, saying, “Child, ^(BZ)arise.” ⁵⁵ And ^(CA)her spirit returned, and she got up at once. And he directed that something should be given her to eat. ⁵⁶ And her parents were amazed, but ^(CB)he charged them to tell no one what had happened.

I Will Sing of the Steadfast Love of the Lord

A Maskil^[a] of ^(A)Ethan the Ezrahite.