Holiness and the Priests
1 And the Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, aNo one shall make himself unclean for the dead among his people, 2 except for his closest relatives, his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother, 3 or his virgin sister (who is near to him because she has had no husband; for her he may make himself unclean). 4 He shall not make himself unclean as a husband among his people and so profane himself. 5 bThey shall not make bald patches on their heads, nor shave off the edges of their beards, nor make any cuts on their body. 6 They shall be holy to their God and cnot profane the name of their God. For they offer the Lord’s food offerings, dthe bread of their God; therefore they shall be holy. 7 eThey shall not marry a prostitute or a woman who has been defiled, neither shall they marry a woman fdivorced from her husband, for the priest is holy to his God. 8 You shall sanctify him, for he offers the bread of your God. He shall be holy to you, for gI, the Lord, who sanctify you, ham holy. 9 And the daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by whoring, profanes her father; ishe shall be burned with fire.
10 j“The priest who is chief among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil is poured and who has been consecrated to wear the garments, kshall not let the hair of his head hang loose nor tear his clothes. 11 He shall not lgo in to any dead bodies nor make himself unclean, even for his father or for his mother. 12 mHe shall not go out of the sanctuary, lest he nprofane the sanctuary of his God, for the oconsecration of the anointing oil of his God is on him: I am the Lord. 13 And he shall take a wife in her virginity.1 14 A widow, por a divorced woman, or a woman who has been defiled, or a prostitute, these he shall not marry. But he shall take as his wife a virgin2 of his own people, 15 that he may not profane his offspring among his people, for gI am the Lord who sanctifies him.”
16 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 17 “Speak to Aaron, saying, None of your offspring throughout their generations who has a blemish may qapproach to offer the bread of his God. 18 For no one who has a blemish shall draw near, a man rblind or lame, or one who has a mutilated face sor a limb too long, 19 or a man who has an injured foot or an injured hand, 20 or a hunchback or a dwarf or a man with a rdefect in his sight or an itching disease or scabs or tcrushed testicles. 21 No man of the offspring of Aaron the priest who has a blemish shall come near to uoffer the Lord’s food offerings; since he has a blemish, he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God. 22 He may eat the bread of his God, both of vthe most holy and of the wholy things, 23 but he shall not go through the veil or approach the altar, because he has a blemish, that he may not xprofane my sanctuaries,3 yfor I am the Lord who sanctifies them.” 24 So Moses spoke to Aaron and to his sons and to all the people of Israel.
1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to Aaron and his sons so that they zabstain from the holy things of the people of Israel, which they adedicate to me, so that they do not bprofane my holy name: I am the Lord. 3 Say to them, ‘If any one of all your offspring throughout your generations approaches the holy things that the people of Israel dedicate to the Lord, while che has an uncleanness, that person shall be cut off from my presence: I am the Lord. 4 None of the offspring of Aaron who has a leprous disease or a ddischarge may eat of the holy things euntil he is clean. fWhoever touches anything that is unclean through contact with the dead or ga man who has had an emission of semen, 5 and hwhoever touches a swarming thing by which he may be made unclean or ia person from whom he may take uncleanness, whatever his uncleanness may be— 6 the person who touches such a thing shall be unclean until the evening and shall not eat of the holy things unless he has jbathed his body in water. 7 When the sun goes down he shall be clean, and afterward he may eat of the holy things, because kthey are his food. 8 lHe shall not eat what dies of itself or is torn by beasts, and so make himself unclean by it: I am the Lord.’ 9 They shall therefore keep my charge, mlest they bear sin for it and die thereby when they profane it: nI am the Lord who sanctifies them.
10 o“A lay person shall not eat of a holy thing; no foreign guest of the priest or hired worker shall eat of a holy thing, 11 but if a priest buys a slave4 as his property for money, the slave5 may eat of it, and panyone born in his house may eat of his food. 12 If a priest’s daughter marries a layman, she shall not eat of the contribution of the holy things. 13 But if a priest’s daughter is widowed or divorced and has no child and qreturns to her father’s house, ras in her youth, she may eat of her father’s food; yet no lay person shall eat of it. 14 sAnd if anyone eats of a holy thing unintentionally, he shall add tthe fifth of its value to it and give the holy thing to the priest. 15 They ushall not profane the holy things of the people of Israel, which they contribute to the Lord, 16 and so cause them mto bear iniquity and guilt, by eating their holy things: nfor I am the Lord who sanctifies them.”
Acceptable Offerings
17 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 18 “Speak to Aaron and his sons and all the people of Israel and say to them, vWhen any one of the house of Israel or of the sojourners in Israel presents a burnt offering as his offering, for any of their vows or freewill offerings that they offer to the Lord, 19 if it is to be accepted for you it shall be a wmale without blemish, of the bulls or the sheep or the goats. 20 xYou shall not offer anything that has a blemish, for it will not be acceptable for you. 21 And when anyone yoffers a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord zto fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering from the herd or from the flock, to be accepted it must be perfect; there shall be no blemish in it. 22 Animals ablind or disabled or mutilated or having a discharge or ban itch or scabs you shall not offer to the Lord or give them to the Lord as a food coffering on the altar. 23 You may present a bull or a lamb that has a part dtoo long or too short for a freewill offering, but for a vow offering it cannot be accepted. 24 Any animal that has its testicles bruised or crushed or torn or cut you shall not offer to the Lord; you shall not do it within your land, 25 neither shall you offer as ethe bread of your God any such animals gotten from a foreigner. Since there is a fblemish in them, because of their mutilation, they will not be accepted for you.”
26 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 27 g“When an ox or sheep or goat is born, it shall remain seven days with its mother, and from the eighth day on it shall be acceptable as a food offering to the Lord. 28 But you shall not kill an ox or a sheep hand her young in one day. 29 And when you sacrifice a isacrifice of thanksgiving to the Lord, you shall sacrifice it so that you may be accepted. 30 It shall be eaten on the same day; jyou shall leave none of it until morning: I am the Lord.
31 k“So you shall keep my commandments and do them: I am the Lord. 32 lAnd you shall not profane my holy name, that mI may be sanctified among the people of Israel. nI am the Lord who sanctifies you, 33 who brought you out of the land of Egypt oto be your God: I am the Lord.”
Prologue
1 The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God agave him bto show to his servants1 the things that must soon take place. cHe made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, 2 dwho bore witness to the word of God and to ethe testimony of Jesus Christ, even fto all that he saw. 3 gBlessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, hfor the time is near.
Greeting to the Seven Churches
4 John to the seven churches that are in Asia:
Grace to you and peace from ihim jwho is and kwho was and who is to come, and from lthe seven spirits who are before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ mthe faithful witness, nthe firstborn of the dead, and othe ruler of kings on earth.
To phim who loves us and qhas freed us from our sins by his blood 6 and made us ra kingdom, rpriests to shis God and Father, to him be tglory and udominion forever and ever. Amen. 7 Behold, vhe is coming with the clouds, and wevery eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail2 on account of him. Even so. Amen.
8 x“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, y“who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
Vision of the Son of Man
9 I, John, your brother and zpartner in athe tribulation and bthe kingdom and cthe patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos don account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10 eI was in the Spirit fon the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice glike a trumpet 11 saying, h“Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”
12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw iseven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the lampstands jone like ka son of man, lclothed with a long robe and mwith a golden sash around his chest. 14 nThe hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. oHis eyes were like a flame of fire, 15 phis feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and qhis voice was like the roar of many waters. 16 rIn his right hand he held seven stars, sfrom his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and this face was like the sun shining uin full strength.
17 vWhen I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But vhe laid his right hand on me, wsaying, “Fear not, xI am the first and the last, 18 and the living one. yI died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and zI have the keys of Death and Hades. 19 aWrite therefore bthe things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this. 20 As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and cthe seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and dthe seven lampstands are the seven churches.
