Old/New Testament
Chapter 23[a]
Holy Days. 1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: These are the feasts of the Lord on which you shall proclaim holy assemblies, these are my feasts:
3 [b]“For six days work can be done, but the seventh is a Sabbath of rest, a holy assembly. You will do no work on it; it is a Sabbath of the Lord in all of your dwellings. 4 These are the feasts of the Lord, holy assemblies that you shall proclaim at their appointed time.
Passover.[c] 5 “The evening of the fourteenth day of the first month is the Lord’s Passover. 6 The fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord. You are to eat unleavened bread for seven days. 7 On the first day you are to have a holy assembly. No heavy labor is to be done on that day. 8 You will make an offering by fire to the Lord for seven days. On the seventh day you are to have a holy assembly. No heavy labor is to be done on that day.”
9 [d]The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 10 “Speak to the children of Israel and say to them: When you enter the land that I am giving you, and you collect the harvest, you are to bring an omer measure of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest. 11 He shall wave the omer before the Lord so that it might be acceptable for you. The priest shall wave it on the day after the Sabbath. 12 On the day that you wave the omer, you shall offer a one-year-old male lamb without blemish as a burnt offering to the Lord. 13 Its grain offering is to be two-tenths of an omer of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering made by fire to the Lord, a pleasing fragrance. Bring a fourth of a hin of wine as a drink offering. 14 You are not to eat bread or roasted grain or the green heads of grain until that day that you have brought your offering to your God. This is a statute from one generation to the next in all of your dwellings.
15 Pentecost.[e]“You shall count off for yourselves seven complete Sabbaths from the day after the Sabbath when you brought your omer as a wave offering. 16 On the day after the seventh Sabbath, having counted fifty days, you shall offer a new cereal offering to the Lord. 17 You shall bring out from your dwellings loaves of bread as wave offerings that have been made with two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour. They are to be baked with leaven. They are the firstfruits to the Lord. 18 Along with the bread you shall offer seven lambs without blemish and one young bull and two rams as burnt offerings to the Lord. Together with the cereal offerings and the drink offerings, you are to make an offering by fire, a pleasing fragrance to the Lord. 19 You shall sacrifice one of the kid goats as a sin offering and you shall sacrifice two of the one-year-old lambs as a peace offering. 20 The priest shall wave them together with the bread of the firstfruits as a wave offering to the Lord, with two holy lambs. They shall be an offering to the Lord for the priest. 21 You shall proclaim on that day that there is to be a holy assembly. You are not to do any heavy labor. This shall be a statute forever in all of your dwellings, from one generation to the next.
22 “When you collect the harvest of your land, you shall not gather it right up to the corners of the field, nor shall you gather up the gleanings of your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the Lord, your God.”
23 New Year’s Day.[f] The Lord said to Moses, 24 “Speak to the children of Israel saying: On the first day of the seventh month you shall observe a Sabbath, a memorial with the blowing of trumpets, a holy assembly. 25 You shall do no heavy labor. You shall make an offering by fire to the Lord.”
26 Day of Atonement.[g] The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 27 “The tenth day of the seventh month shall be a Day of Atonement. You shall have a holy assembly and you shall humble yourselves. You shall make an offering by fire to the Lord. 28 You shall not work on this day, for it is a Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the Lord, your God. 29 Whoever does not humble himself that day shall be cut off from among his people. 30 I will destroy whoever does any work on that day from among his people. 31 You shall do absolutely no work. This shall be a statute forever from one generation to the next in all of your dwellings. 32 It shall be a Sabbath of rest for you. You shall humble yourselves on the evening of the ninth of the month. You shall celebrate your Sabbath from that evening until the next.”
33 Feast of Booths.[h] The Lord said to Moses, 34 “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: The fifteenth day of the seventh month shall be the Lord’s Feast of Booths, for seven days. 35 On the first day you shall have a holy assembly. You shall do no heavy labor. 36 For seven days you shall make an offering by fire to the Lord. On the eighth day you shall hold a holy assembly and you shall make an offering by fire to the Lord. It is a holy assembly, and you shall do no heavy labor. 37 These are the feasts of the Lord on which you shall proclaim holy assemblies, making a burnt offering to the Lord, and offering up a cereal offering, a sacrifice, and a drink offering, each on its own day, 38 in addition to the Sabbaths of the Lord, your gifts, your vows, and all of the free-will offerings that you give to the Lord. 39 On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you shall celebrate a feast to the Lord for seven days. On the first day there will be a Sabbath rest, and on the eighth day there will be a Sabbath rest. 40 On the first day you shall gather for yourselves the shoots of the healthy trees, fronds from the palm trees, branches from the leafy trees, and willows from the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord, your God, for seven days. 41 You shall observe it as a feast of the Lord for seven days each year. This is a statute forever, from one generation to the next, that you shall celebrate in the seventh month. 42 You shall dwell in tents for seven days. All native-born Israelites shall dwell in tents 43 so that all of your generations may know that I made the children of Israel dwell in tents when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord, your God.”
44 This is how Moses described the feasts of the Lord to the children of Israel.
Chapter 24
The Sanctuary Lamp.[i] 1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Command the children of Israel to bring you pure oil of pressed olives for the lamp, that the light might burn continually. 3 Aaron is to place it outside of the veil of the Testimony, in the tent of meeting, burning it from evening to morning before the Lord forever. This shall be a statute forever, from one generation to the next. 4 He shall place the lamps upon the pure golden lampstand, before the Lord forever.
The Bread Offering. 5 “You shall take fine flour and bake twelve cakes, two-tenths of an ephah in each cake. 6 You shall set them in two rows, six cakes to a row, on the pure golden table before the Lord. 7 You shall sprinkle pure frankincense[j] upon each row, on the bread, so that it might be a memorial offering made by fire to the Lord. 8 Every Sabbath he shall set it in order before the Lord forever. It is an everlasting covenant for the children of Israel. 9 It belongs to Aaron and his sons who are to eat it in a holy place, for it is a most holy part of his portion of the offerings made by fire to the Lord. This is a statute forever.”
10 Consequences of Blasphemy.[k] The son of an Israelite woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the children of Israel, and this son of the Israelite woman got into a fight with an Israelite man. 11 The son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the name of the Lord and cursed. They brought him to Moses. His mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan. 12 They put him under guard until the will of the Lord might be revealed to them. 13 The Lord spoke to Moses saying, 14 “Bring the one who has cursed outside of the camp. Let everyone who heard him lay their hands upon his head, and let all the assembly stone him. 15 You shall speak to the children of Israel saying, ‘Whoever curses his God shall bear his guilt. 16 He who blasphemes the name of the Lord must be put to death. All of the assembly shall stone him, the alien as well as the native born. He who blasphemes the Lord shall be put to death.[l]
17 “ ‘He who kills any man must be put to death. 18 He who kills an animal shall make restitution for it, an animal for an animal. 19 When a man wounds a neighbor, whatever he has done shall be done to him: 20 broken bone for broken bone, eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. In whatever way he wounded another, so it shall be done to him. 21 He who kills an animal shall make restitution and he who kills a man shall be put to death. 22 You shall have one set of laws for both the alien and for the native born. I am the Lord, your God.’ ”
23 Moses told the children of Israel that they should bring the man who had cursed outside of the camp and stone him to death. The children of Israel did as the Lord had commanded Moses.
Preparation for the Mission of Jesus[a]
Chapter 1
Beginning of the Good News.[b] 1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
2 It is written in the prophet Isaiah:[c]
“Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you;
he will prepare your way.
3 The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’ ”
4 Hence, John the Baptist appeared in the desert, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 People from the entire Judean countryside and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem went out to him, and as they confessed their sins they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.
6 John was clothed in a garment of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and his food consisted of locusts and wild honey. 7 And this was the message he proclaimed: “One who is far more powerful than I am is coming after me. I am not worthy even to stoop down and loosen the straps of his sandals. 8 I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”[d]
Jesus Is Baptized by John.[e] 9 At that time,[f] Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 [g]And as he was coming up out of the water, he beheld the heavens break open and the Spirit descending upon him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven: “You are my beloved Son; in you I am well pleased.”
12 Jesus Is Tempted in the Desert.[h] The Spirit immediately drove him out into the desert. 13 He remained there for forty days, during which time he was tempted by Satan. He lived there among the wild beasts, while the angels ministered to him.
Is Jesus the Messiah?[i]
First Testimonies of the Messiah’s Mission
14 Jesus Inaugurates His Mission. After John had been arrested,[j] Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, 15 “The time of fulfillment has arrived, and the kingdom of God is close at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”
16 The First Disciples.[k] As Jesus was walking along by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea, for they were fishermen. 17 Jesus said to them, “Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 18 Immediately, they abandoned their nets and followed him.
19 As he proceeded farther, he saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They also were in a boat mending their nets. 20 Immediately, he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired workers and followed him.
21 Jesus Heals a Man with a Demon.[l] They journeyed to Capernaum, and on the Sabbath Jesus immediately entered the synagogue and began to instruct the people. 22 They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.
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