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Instructions About Bodily Discharges
15 Then[a] Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 2 “Speak to the Israelites,[b] and you shall say to them, ‘Any man[c] when a fluid discharge occurs[d] from his body, his fluid discharge is unclean. 3 And this becomes his uncleanness in his fluid discharge: whether his body secretes his fluid discharge or his body blocks his fluid discharge, it is his uncleanness. 4 Any bed upon which the person who discharges lies down becomes unclean, and any object upon which he sits becomes unclean. 5 And anyone who touches his bed must wash his garments and shall wash[e] himself[f] with water, and he shall be unclean until evening. 6 And the person who sits on the object upon which the person who discharges has sat must wash his garments, and he shall wash[g] himself[h] with water, and he shall be unclean until the evening. 7 And the person who touches the body of the person who discharges must wash his garments, and he shall wash[i] himself[j] with water, and he shall be unclean until the evening. 8 And if the person who discharges spits on one who is[k] clean, then[l] that one[m] shall wash is garments, and he shall wash himself[n] with water, and he shall be unclean until the evening. 9 And any saddle upon which the person who discharges rides becomes unclean. 10 And any person who touches anything that happened to be under him becomes unclean until the evening, and the person who carries them must wash his garments, and he shall wash himself[o] with water, and he shall be unclean until the evening. 11 And anyone whom the person who discharges might touch without[p] rinsing off his hands with water shall wash his garments, and he shall wash himself[q] with water, and he shall be unclean until the evening. 12 But[r] a clay vessel that the person who discharges touches must be broken, and any wood object[s] must be rinsed with water.
13 “‘And when the person who discharges becomes clean from his body fluid discharge, he shall count[t] for himself seven days for his cleansing; then[u] he shall wash his garments, and he shall wash his body with fresh[v] water, and he shall be clean. 14 Then[w] on the eighth day he shall take for himself two turtledoves or two young doves,[x] and he shall come before[y] Yahweh at the tent of assembly’s entrance, and he shall give them to the priest. 15 And the priest shall sacrifice[z] one as a sin offering and the other[aa] as a burnt offering, and so the priest shall make atonement for him before[ab] Yahweh from his body fluid discharge.
16 “‘And if an emission of semen goes out from anyone, then[ac] he shall wash all of his body with water, and he shall be unclean until the evening. 17 And any garment and anything leather on which is an emission of semen shall be washed with water, and it shall be unclean until the evening. 18 If[ad] there is a woman with whom a man lies down and there is an emission of semen, then[ae] they shall wash themselves[af] with water, and they shall be unclean until the evening.
19 “‘And when a woman is menstruating,[ag] her body fluid discharge occurs in[ah] her body; for seven days she shall be in her menstruation, and any person who touches her shall become unclean until the evening. 20 And anything upon which she lies down during her menstruation shall become unclean, and anything upon which she sits shall become unclean. 21 And any person who touches her bed must wash his garments, and he shall wash himself[ai] with water, and he shall be unclean until the evening. 22 And any person who touches any object on which she sat must wash his garments, and he shall wash himself[aj] with water, and he shall be unclean until the evening. 23 And if it is on the bed or on the object on which she sits, at his touching it he becomes unclean until the evening. 24 And if a man indeed lies with her and her menstruation occurs on him, then[ak] he shall be unclean for seven days, and any bed on which he lies down becomes unclean.
25 “‘And when a woman discharges a body fluid consisting of her blood for many days, but not at the time of her menstruation, or when she discharges in addition to[al] her menstruation, all the days of her unclean body fluid discharge she shall become unclean as in the days of her menstruation. 26 Any bed on which she lies during all the days of her body fluid discharge shall become for her as her bed of menstruation, and any object on which she sits becomes unclean as her menstruation’s uncleanness. 27 And any person who touches them becomes unclean, and he shall wash his garments, and he shall wash himself[am] with water, and he shall be unclean until the evening.
28 “‘And if she is clean from her body fluid discharge, then[an] she shall count for herself seven days, and afterward she becomes clean. 29 And on the eighth day she shall take for herself two turtledoves or two young doves,[ao] and she shall bring them to the priest at the tent of assembly’s entrance. 30 And the priest shall sacrifice[ap] the one as a sin offering and the other[aq] as a burnt offering, and so the priest shall make atonement for her before[ar] Yahweh from her unclean body fluid discharge.’
31 “And you shall keep the Israelites[as] separate from their uncleanness so that they might not die because of[at] their uncleanness by their making my tabernacle, which is in their midst, unclean.
32 “This is the regulation of the one with the body fluid discharge and the one from whom an emission of semen goes out so that he becomes unclean by it 33 and concerning[au] the menstruating woman in her bleeding[av] and the person who discharges his body fluid, for the male and for the female and for a man who lies with an unclean woman.”
The Day of Atonement
16 Then[aw] Yahweh spoke to Moses after the death of Aaron’s two sons, when they had come near before[ax] Yahweh and they died. 2 And Yahweh said to Moses, “Tell[ay] your brother Aaron that he should not enter at any time into the sanctuary behind[az] the curtain in front of[ba] the atonement cover that is on the ark, so that he might not die, because I appear in the cloud over the atonement cover.
3 “Aaron must enter the sanctuary with this: a young bull[bb] as a sin offering and a ram as a burnt offering. 4 He must put on a holy linen tunic,[bc] and linen undergarments must be on his body, and he must fasten himself[bd] with a linen sash, and he must wrap a linen turban around his head[be]—they are holy garments, and he shall wash his body with water, then[bf] he shall put them on. 5 And he must take from the Israelites’[bg] community two he-goats as a sin offering and one ram as a burnt offering.
6 “And Aaron shall present the sin offering’s bull, which is for himself, and so he shall make atonement for himself and for his family. 7 And he shall take the two goats, and he shall present them before[bh] Yahweh at the tent of assembly’s entrance. 8 Then[bi] Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats: one lot for Yahweh and one for Azazel. 9 And Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot for Yahweh fell, and he shall sacrifice[bj] it as a sin offering. 10 But[bk] he must present alive before[bl] Yahweh the goat on which the lot for Azazel fell to make atonement for himself, to send it away into the desert to Azazel.
11 “And Aaron shall present the sin offering’s bull, which is for himself, and so he shall make atonement for himself and for his family; then[bm] he shall slaughter the sin offering’s bull, which is for himself. 12 And he shall take a[bn] censer full of burning charcoal[bo] from upon the altar from before[bp] Yahweh and two handfuls[bq] of incense of powdered fragrant perfumes, and he shall bring it from behind[br] the curtain, 13 and he shall put the incense on the fire before[bs] Yahweh so that the cloud of incense might cover the atonement cover, which is on the covenant text,[bt] so that he might not die. 14 And he shall take some of[bu] the bull’s blood, and he shall spatter it[bv] with his finger on the atonement cover’s surface on the eastern side, and before[bw] the atonement cover he shall spatter some of[bx] the blood with his finger seven times.
15 “And he shall slaughter the sin offering’s goat, which is for the people, and he shall bring its blood from behind[by] the curtain, and he shall do with its blood as that which he did with[bz] the bull’s blood, and he shall spatter it on the atonement cover and before[ca] the atonement cover. 16 Thus[cb] he shall make atonement for the sanctuary from the Israelites’[cc] impurities and from their transgressions for all their sins; and so he must do for the tent of assembly, which dwells with them in the midst of their impurities. 17 And no person[cd] shall be in the tent of assembly when he enters to make atonement in the sanctuary until he comes out, and so he shall make atonement for himself and for his family and for all of Israel’s assembly.
18 “Then[ce] he shall go out to the altar that is before[cf] Yahweh, and he shall make atonement for it; and he shall take some of[cg] the bull’s blood and some of[ch] the goat’s blood, and he shall put it[ci] all around on the altar’s horns. 19 And he shall spatter some of[cj] the blood on it seven times with his finger, and he shall cleanse it and consecrate[ck] it from the Israelites’[cl] impurities.
20 “And he shall finish making atonement for the sanctuary and the tent of assembly and the altar; then[cm] he shall present the living goat. 21 And Aaron shall place his two hands on the living goat’s head, and he shall confess over it all the Israelites’[cn] iniquities and all their transgressions for all their sins, and he shall put them on the goat’s head, and he shall send it[co] away into the desert with[cp] a man standing ready.[cq] 22 Thus[cr] the goat shall bear on it to a barren region[cs] all their guilt, and he shall send the goat away into the desert.
23 “And Aaron shall enter the tent of assembly, and he shall take off the linen garments that he put on at his coming to the sanctuary, and he shall leave them there. 24 And he shall wash his body with water in a holy place, and he shall put on his garments and go out and sacrifice[ct] his burnt offering and the people’s burnt offering, and so he shall make atonement for himself and for people. 25 And he must turn into smoke the sin offering’s fat on the altar.
26 “And the person who sends out the goat for Azazel shall wash his garments, and he shall wash his body with water, and afterward[cu] he shall come to the camp. 27 And the sin offering’s bull and the sin offering’s goat, whose blood was brought to make atonement in the sanctuary, shall be brought outside the camp,[cv] and they shall burn their hide and their flesh and their offal in the fire. 28 And the person who burns them shall wash his garments, and he shall wash his body with water, and afterward[cw] he must come to the camp.
Human Traditions and God’s Commandments
7 And the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered to him. 2 And they saw that some of his disciples were eating their[a] bread with unclean—that is, unwashed—hands. 3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands ritually,[b] thus[c] holding fast to the traditions of the elders. 4 And when they come[d] from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions[e] which they have received and[f] hold fast to—for example,[g] the washing of cups and pitchers and bronze kettles and dining couches.)[h] 5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their[i] bread with unclean hands?” 6 So he said to them, “Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written,
‘This people honors me with their[j] lips,
but their heart is far, far away from me.
7 And they worship me in vain,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’[k]
8 Abandoning the commandment of God, you hold fast to the tradition of men.”
9 And he said to them, “You splendidly ignore the commandment of God so that you can keep[l] your tradition. 10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’[m] and, ‘The one who speaks evil of father or mother must certainly die[n].’[o] 11 But you say, ‘If a man says to his[p] father or to his[q] mother, “Whatever benefit you would have received[r] from me is corban”[s] (that is, a gift to God), 12 you no longer permit him to do anything for his[t] father or his[u] mother, 13 thus[v] making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down, and you do many similar things such as this.”
Defilement from Within
14 And summoning the crowd again, he said to them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand: 15 There is nothing outside of a person that is able to defile him by[w] going into him. But the things that go out of a person are the things that defile a person.”[x] 17 And when he entered into the house away from the crowd, his disciples asked him about the parable. 18 And he said to them, “So are you also without understanding? Do you not understand that everything that is outside that goes into a person is not able to defile him? 19 For it does not enter into his heart but into his[y] stomach, and goes out into the latrine”—thus[z] declaring all foods clean. 20 And he said, “What comes out of a person, that defiles a person. 21 For from within, from the heart of people, come evil plans, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, 22 adulteries, acts of greed, malicious deeds, deceit, licentiousness, envy,[aa] abusive speech, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within and defile a person.”
11 As for you, O Yahweh, do not withhold your mercies from me.
Let your loyal love and your faithfulness
continually preserve me.
12 For evils without number have encompassed me.
My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to see.
They are more than the hairs of my head,
and my heart fails me.
13 Be pleased, O Yahweh, to deliver me.
O Yahweh, hurry to help me.
14 Let them be shamed and abashed altogether
who seek to take away my life.[a]
Let them be repulsed and humiliated
who desire my harm.
15 Let them be appalled because of their shame,
those who say to me, “Aha! Aha!”
16 Let them rejoice and be glad in you,
all those who seek you.
Let them say continually, “Yahweh is great!”
—those who love your salvation.
17 But I am poor and needy.
Let my Lord consider me.
You are my help and my deliverer.
O my God, do not delay.
13 On the lips of one who has understanding, wisdom is found,
but a rod is for the back of one who lacks sense.[a]
14 Those who are wise lay up knowledge,
but to the mouth of the fool, ruin draws near.
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