Old/New Testament
Chapter 15
Additional Offerings. 1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them: ‘When you come into the land of your dwelling that I will give you 3 and you make an offering by fire to the Lord, either a burnt offering or a sacrifice, whether to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering or on your appointed feast days, whether it be from the herd or the flock, in order to make a pleasing fragrance to the Lord, 4 then the person bringing his offering to the Lord should bring a cereal offering of a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a fourth of a hin of oil.[a] 5 With each burnt offering or sacrifice of a lamb you are to make a drink offering of a quarter of a hin of wine. 6 For a ram, you are to make a cereal offering of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a third of a hin of oil, 7 and for a drink offering you are to offer a third of a hin of wine, a pleasing fragrance to the Lord.
8 “ ‘When you prepare a young bull as a burnt offering or a sacrifice, whether to fulfill a vow or to make a peace offering to the Lord, 9 you will offer a cereal offering of three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour, mixed with half a hin of oil along with the young bull, 10 and you will bring a drink offering of half a hin of wine. It will be an offering made by fire, a pleasing fragrance to the Lord. 11 Each young bull or each ram, each lamb or each kid goat is to be prepared in this way. 12 Whatever number you prepare, you shall do this with each one.
13 “ ‘All who were born in the land will do things this way when they present an offering by fire, a pleasing fragrance to the Lord. 14 If there is a foreigner living among you or a person living among you for generations, and he wishes to make an offering by fire, a pleasing fragrance to the Lord, let him do it as you have done it. 15 For the community, there is one ordinance for you and for the foreigner living in your midst, it is a perpetual ordinance for all your generations. Thus, you and the foreigner are the same before the Lord. 16 The same laws and statutes apply to you and the foreigner who is living in your midst.’ ”
17 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 18 “Speak to the people of Israel and tell them, ‘When you enter into the land to which I am bringing you, 19 then when you eat the food of the land, you shall lift up an offering to the Lord. 20 You shall lift up a cake from the first[b] of your dough as an offering just as you present an offering from your threshing floor. 21 You shall give an offering to the Lord from the first of your dough for all your generations.
22 Atonement Offerings.“ ‘If by mistake you have not observed all the commandments that the Lord proclaimed through Moses, 23 all that the Lord commanded through Moses, from the day that the Lord gave the commandments and onward through all your generations, 24 this is what will be done: if the action was committed unintentionally and without the knowledge of the assembly, then the whole assembly is to offer up one young bull as a burnt offering, a pleasing fragrance to the Lord, along with its cereal and drink offerings, according to custom, as well as one kid goat as a sin offering. 25 The priest shall make atonement for the whole assembly of the people of Israel, and it will be forgiven them, for it was unintentional. They will have brought a sacrifice by fire to the Lord, a sin offering to the Lord for their mistake. 26 All of the assembly of the people of Israel and even the foreigner living among them shall be forgiven, for all the people participated in the mistake.
27 “ ‘If a person sins unintentionally, then he is to offer up a year-old she-goat as a sin offering. 28 The priest is to make atonement before the Lord for the one who has sinned unintentionally. When atonement has been made for him, he will be forgiven. 29 You shall have one law for those who sin unintentionally, whether they were born among the people of Israel or they are foreigners living in your midst.
30 “ ‘But if someone does anything defiantly, whether he be native born or a foreigner, then that person blasphemes the Lord and is to be cut off from among his people. 31 Because he has despised the word of the Lord and has broken his commandment, let that person be completely cut off, and let his guilt remain upon him.’ ”
32 Sabbath-breaker Punished.[c] Now, while the people of Israel were in the desert, they came upon a man gathering wood on the Sabbath. 33 Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and to the whole assembly 34 and they put him under guard, for it had not yet been established what was to be done to him. 35 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Surely the man is to be put to death! Let the whole assembly stone him outside of the camp!” 36 So the whole assembly took him outside of the camp, and they stoned him to death, as the Lord had commanded Moses.
37 Tassels on Garments.[d] The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 38 “Speak to the people of Israel and tell them to have tassels on the corners of their garments throughout all their generations. Let them put a blue cord on the tassels of each corner. 39 When you look at the tassels, you will remember the commandments of the Lord and keep them. Thus you will not prostitute yourselves by following after the lusts in your own heart or your own eyes. 40 Then you will remember to obey all the commandments and you will be holy to your God. 41 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.”
Chapter 16
Korah’s Rebellion. 1 Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and some Reubenites, Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth took action 2 and rose up against Moses. With them were some of the people of Israel, two hundred fifty leaders of the assembly, well known in the assembly and men of renown. 3 They gathered together against Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! The whole assembly is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is in their midst. Why, then, do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?”[e]
4 When Moses heard this he fell on his face 5 and he spoke to Korah and his company, saying, “Tomorrow the Lord will reveal who belongs to him and who is holy when he allows him to approach him. He will allow the one whom he has chosen to approach him. 6 Do this: you and Korah and all his followers are to take censers 7 before the Lord tomorrow and put fire and incense in them. The man whom the Lord chooses shall be the holy one. You have gone too far, you Levites!”
8 Then Moses said to Korah, “Hear now, you Levites, 9 is it not enough that the God of Israel has set you apart from the assembly of Israel to bring you onto himself, to minister in the tabernacle of the Lord, and to stand before the assembly serving them? 10 He has brought you and all your brethren, the Levites, onto himself, and still you seek the priesthood too? 11 For this you and all your company have gathered together against the Lord. Who is Aaron that you should complain about him?”
12 Rebellion of Dathan and Abiram. Then Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab. They responded, “We will not come up! 13 Is it not enough that you brought us out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the desert? Now you are going to make yourself a prince over us? 14 Indeed, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor have you given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Are you going to gouge out the eyes of these men? No, we will not come up!”
15 Moses was very angry and said to the Lord, “Do not accept their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them, nor have I harmed any of them.” 16 Then Moses said to Korah, “You and your company are to appear before the Lord tomorrow, you, and them, and Aaron. 17 Each of you is to bring your censer and put incense in it. Each of you is to bring his censer before the Lord, two hundred and fifty censers. You and Aaron will also each bring a censer.” 18 [f]So each took his own censer, put fire and incense in them, and stood at the entrance to the tent of meeting along with Moses and Aaron. 19 The whole assembly gathered against them at the entrance to the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord appeared to the whole assembly.
20 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 21 “Move away from this assembly so that I can destroy them at once.” 22 But Moses and Aaron fell down upon their faces and said, “O God, O God of the spirits of all flesh,[g] will you be angry with the whole assembly because of the sin of one person?”
23 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 24 “Speak to the assembly, saying, ‘Draw back from the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.’ ”
25 Punishment of Dathan and Abiram. Then Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, followed by the elders of Israel. 26 He spoke to the assembly, saying, “Draw back from the tents of these wicked men, and do not touch anything that belongs to them, or else you will be swept away in all their sin.” 27 So they backed away from the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram came out and stood in the entranceway of their tents along with their wives, their sons, and their little ones. 28 Moses said, “By this you shall know that the Lord sent me to do all these things, for they are not of my own doing. 29 If these men end up dying a natural death and are visited by every person’s fate, then the Lord has not sent me. 30 But if the Lord creates something new and the earth opens up and swallows them and all that belongs to them and they go down alive into Sheol,[h] then you will understand that they have treated the Lord with contempt.”
31 As soon as he finished saying these things, the ground split apart underneath them. 32 The earth opened up its mouth and swallowed them and their households as well as the men who were with Korah and all their possessions. 33 So they and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol and the earth closed over them. They perished from the assembly. 34 All of Israel that had gathered around them fled at their outcry for they said, “The earth might swallow us up too!” 35 Fire came out from the Lord and swallowed up the two hundred and fifty who had offered incense.
36 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 37 “Speak to Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, and have him gather up the censers[i] from the blaze for they are holy. Scatter the burning coals over there. 38 The censers of these sinners will bear witness against them. Hammer them into sheets to cover the altar, for they have been presented to the Lord and they are therefore holy. They will be a warning to the people of Israel.”
39 Eleazar took the bronze censers with which the men who had been destroyed by fire had made their offering, and they hammered them into sheets to cover the altar. 40 They were to be a reminder to the people of Israel that no one other than a descendant of Aaron was to draw near to offer incense to the Lord lest what happened to Korah and his company happen to them. He did this as the Lord had commanded him through Moses.
41 The very next day the whole assembly of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron saying, “You have killed the Lord’s people.” 42 When the assembly had gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron, they looked up toward the tent of meeting and, behold, the cloud covered it and the glory of the Lord appeared.
43 Moses and Aaron stood in front of the tent of meeting 44 and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 45 “Stand away from this assembly so that I can quickly put an end to them.” Then they fell down on their faces. 46 Moses said to Aaron, “Take a censer and put fire from the altar in it and put incense in it. Go out quickly to the assembly to make atonement for them, for anger has gone out from the Lord and the plague has begun.”
47 So Aaron did what Moses had commanded him and he ran out into the midst of the assembly. The plague had already begun among the people. He put in incense and made atonement for the people. 48 He stood between the dead and the living, and the plague halted. 49 There were fourteen thousand and seven hundred who died in the plague (not counting those who died on account of Korah). 50 Then Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance to the tent of meeting for the plague had been halted.
Chapter 6
Jesus Is Rejected at Nazareth.[a] 1 Departing from that district, Jesus went to his hometown accompanied by his disciples. 2 On the Sabbath, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many of those who heard him asked in amazement, “Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that he has been granted? What mighty deeds he performs! 3 Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother[b] of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not his sisters here with us?” And so they took offense at him.
4 Then Jesus said to them, “A prophet is always treated with honor except in his hometown, and among relatives, and in his own house.” 5 And he was unable to perform any mighty works there, aside from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them. 6 He was amazed at their lack of faith.
Who Is Jesus?[c]
Jesus Sends Out the Twelve on Mission.[d] Jesus traveled through the villages teaching. 7 Calling the Twelve together, he began to send them out two by two, with authority over unclean spirits. 8 He instructed them to take nothing for their journey except a walking staff—no bread, no sack, no money in their purses. 9 They were to wear sandals but not to take along a second tunic.
10 He said to them, “Whenever you enter a house, you are to stay there until you leave the area. 11 And if any will not welcome you and refuse to listen to you, leave them immediately and shake off the dust that is on your feet in testimony against them.” 12 Then they set off and preached the need for repentance. 13 They cast out many demons, and they anointed with oil many people who were sick and cured them.[e]
14 The Name of Jesus Becomes Renowned.[f] King Herod heard of it, for Jesus’ name had become renowned, and some people were saying, “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead. That is why such powers are at work in him.” 15 But others said, “He is Elijah,” while still others proclaimed, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.” 16 But when Herod heard of it, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised from the dead.”
17 The Death of John the Baptist.[g] It was this same Herod who had ordered John to be arrested and put in chains in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because Herod had married her. 18 For John had told Herod, “It is unlawful for you to have your brother’s wife.”
19 As for Herodias, she was filled with resentment against John and wanted to have him killed, but she was unable to do so, 20 because Herod was afraid of John, knowing him to be a holy and righteous man. Therefore, he protected him from harm. When he heard John speak, he was greatly perplexed by his words, but even so he liked to listen to him.
21 Her opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his court officials and military officers and the leaders of Galilee. 22 When the daughter of Herodias came in, she performed a dance that delighted Herod and his guests. The king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it to you.” 23 And he solemnly swore to her, “Whatever you ask I will give you, even half of my kingdom.”
24 The girl went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for?” She replied, “The head of John the Baptist.” 25 The girl then hurried back to the king and made her request, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”
26 The king was greatly distressed, but because of the oath he had sworn and the presence of the guests, he was unwilling to break his word to her. 27 Therefore, he immediately ordered an executioner to bring him John’s head. The man went off and beheaded him in the prison. 28 Then he brought in the head on a platter and gave it to the girl, and the girl in turn gave it to her mother. 29 When John’s disciples heard about this, they came and removed his body and laid it in a tomb.
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