Leviticus 16–18; Psalm 37

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Leviticus 16–18

The Day of Atonement

The Lord spoke to Moses after cthe death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before the Lord and died, and the Lord said to Moses, Tell Aaron your brother not to dcome at any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat that is on the ark, so that he may not die. For eI will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat. But in this way Aaron shall come into the Holy Place: fwith a bull from the herd for a sin offering and ga ram for a burnt offering. He shall put on hthe holy linen coat and shall have the linen undergarment on his body, and he shall tie the linen sash around his waist, and wear the linen turban; these are the holy garments. iHe shall bathe his body in water and then put them on. And he shall take from jthe congregation of the people of Israel two male goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering.

Aaron shall koffer the bull as a sin offering for himself and shall lmake atonement for himself and for his house. Then he shall take the two goats and set them before the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting. And Aaron shall cast lots over the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for mAzazel.1 And Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the Lord and use it as a sin offering, 10 but the goat on which the lot fell for mAzazel shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to mAzazel.

11 Aaron shall present kthe bull as a sin offering for himself, and shall make atonement for himself and for his house. He shall kill the bull as a sin offering for himself. 12 And he shall take na censer full of coals of fire from the altar before the Lord, and two handfuls of sweet incense beaten small, and he shall bring it inside the veil 13 oand put the incense on the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of the incense may cover pthe mercy seat that is over the testimony, so that he does not die. 14 And qhe shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the front of the mercy seat on the east side, and in front of the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times.

15 rThen he shall kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people and bring its blood sinside the veil and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, sprinkling it over the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat. 16 Thus he shall tmake atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleannesses of the people of Israel and because of their transgressions, all their sins. And so he shall do for the tent of meeting, which dwells with them in the midst of their uncleannesses. 17 uNo one may be in the tent of meeting from the time he enters to make atonement in the Holy Place until he comes out and has made atonement for himself and for his house and for all the assembly of Israel. 18 Then he shall go out to the altar that is vbefore the Lord and wmake atonement for it, and shall take some of the blood of the bull and some of the blood of the goat, and put it on the horns of the altar all around. 19 And he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it and consecrate it from the uncleannesses of the people of Israel.

20 And when he has made an end of xatoning for the Holy Place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall present the live goat. 21 And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall yput them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness. 22 The goat shall zbear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and ahe shall let the goat go free in the wilderness.

23 Then Aaron shall come into the tent of meeting and bshall take off the linen garments that he put on when he went into the Holy Place and shall leave them there. 24 And he shall bathe his body in water in a holy place and put on his garments and come out and coffer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people and make atonement for himself and for the people. 25 And dthe fat of the sin offering he shall burn on the altar. 26 And he who lets the goat go to eAzazel shall wash his clothes and fbathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp. 27 gAnd the bull for the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the Holy Place, shall be carried outside the camp. Their skin and their flesh and their dung shall be burned up with fire. 28 And he who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp.

29 And it shall be a statute to you forever that hin the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall iafflict yourselves2 and shall do no work, either jthe native or the stranger who sojourns among you. 30 For on this day shall atonement be made for you kto cleanse you. You shall be clean before the Lord from all your sins. 31 lIt is a Sabbath of solemn rest to you, and you shall iafflict yourselves; it is a statute forever. 32 mAnd the priest who is anointed and nconsecrated as priest in his father’s place oshall make atonement, wearing the holy linen garments. 33 He shall make atonement for pthe holy sanctuary, and he shall make atonement for the tent of meeting and for qthe altar, and he shall make atonement for rthe priests and for sall the people of the assembly. 34 And this shall be a statute forever for you, that atonement may be made for the people of Israel tonce in the year because of all their sins. And Aaron3 did as the Lord commanded Moses.

The Place of Sacrifice

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to Aaron and his sons and to all the people of Israel and say to them, This is the thing that the Lord has commanded. If any one of the house of Israel ukills an ox or a lamb or a goat in the camp, or kills it outside the camp, and vdoes not bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting to offer it as a gift to the Lord in front of the tabernacle of the Lord, bloodguilt shall be imputed to that man. He has shed blood, and that man wshall be cut off from among his people. This is to the end that the people of Israel may bring their sacrifices that they sacrifice xin the open field, that they may bring them to the Lord, to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and sacrifice them yas sacrifices of peace offerings to the Lord. And the priest shall ythrow the blood on the altar of the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting and burn the fat zfor a pleasing aroma to the Lord. So they shall no more sacrifice their sacrifices to goat demons, after whom they awhore. This shall be a statute forever for them throughout their generations.

And you shall say to them, Any one of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn among them, who boffers a burnt offering or sacrifice and cdoes not bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting to offer it to the Lord, wthat man shall be cut off from his people.

Laws Against Eating Blood

10 If any one of the house of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn among them deats any blood, I will eset my face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from among his people. 11 fFor the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar gto make atonement for your souls, hfor it is the blood that makes atonement by the life. 12 Therefore I have said to the people of Israel, No person among you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger who sojourns among you eat blood.

13 Any one also of the people of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn among them, who takes in hunting any beast or bird that may be eaten shall ipour out its blood and jcover it with earth. 14 For the life of every creature4 is its kblood: its blood is its life.5 Therefore I have said to the people of Israel, You shall not eat the blood of any creature, for the life of every creature is its blood. Whoever eats it shall be cut off. 15 lAnd every person who eats what dies of itself or what is torn by beasts, mwhether he is a native or a sojourner, nshall wash his clothes and obathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening; then he shall be clean. 16 But if he does not wash them or bathe his flesh, phe shall bear his iniquity.

Unlawful Sexual Relations

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, qI am the Lord your God. rYou shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and syou shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes. tYou shall follow my rules6 and keep my statutes and walk in them. qI am the Lord your God. tYou shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; uif a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the Lord.

None of you shall approach any one of his close relatives to uncover nakedness. I am the Lord. vYou shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, which is the nakedness of your mother; she is your mother, you shall not uncover her nakedness. wYou shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife; it is your father’s nakedness. xYou shall not uncover the nakedness of your sister, your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether brought up in the family or in another home. 10 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your son’s daughter or of your daughter’s daughter, for their nakedness is your own nakedness. 11 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife’s daughter, brought up in your father’s family, since she is your sister. 12 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s sister; she is your father’s relative. 13 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister, for she is your mother’s relative. 14 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s brother, that is, you shall not approach his wife; she is your aunt. 15 yYou shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law; she is your son’s wife, you shall not uncover her nakedness. 16 zYou shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife; it is your brother’s nakedness. 17 You shall not uncover the nakedness of a woman and of her daughter, and you shall not take her son’s daughter or her daughter’s daughter to uncover her nakedness; they are relatives; it is depravity. 18 And you shall not take a woman as a arival wife to her sister, uncovering her nakedness bwhile her sister is still alive.

19 cYou shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness while she is in her menstrual uncleanness. 20 dAnd you shall not lie sexually with your neighbor’s wife and so make yourself unclean with her. 21 You shall not give any of your children to eoffer them7 to fMolech, and so gprofane the name of your God: I am the Lord. 22 hYou shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination. 23 iAnd you shall not lie with any animal and so make yourself unclean with it, neither shall any woman give herself to an animal to lie with it: it is jperversion.

24 kDo not make yourselves unclean by any of these things, lfor by all these the nations I am driving out before you have become unclean, 25 and the mland became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land nvomited out its inhabitants. 26 But oyou shall keep my statutes and my rules and do none of these abominations, either the pnative or the stranger who sojourns among you 27 (for the people of the land, who were before you, did all of these abominations, so that the land became unclean), 28 lest the land vomit you out when you make it unclean, as it vomited out the nation that was before you. 29 For everyone who does any of these abominations, the persons who do them shall be cut off from among their people. 30 qSo keep my charge never to practice rany of these abominable customs that were practiced before you, and never to make yourselves unclean by them: sI am the Lord your God.


Psalm 37

He Will Not Forsake His Saints

1 Of David.

uFret not yourself because of evildoers;

be not venvious of wrongdoers!

For they will soon wfade like xthe grass

and wither ylike the green herb.

zTrust in the Lord, and do good;

adwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.2

bDelight yourself in the Lord,

and he will cgive you the desires of your heart.

dCommit your way to the Lord;

ztrust in him, and he will act.

eHe will bring forth your righteousness as the light,

and your justice as fthe noonday.

gBe still before the Lord and wait patiently for him;

hfret not yourself over the one who iprospers in his way,

over the man who carries out evil devices!

jRefrain from anger, and forsake wrath!

hFret not yourself; it tends only to evil.

kFor the evildoers shall be cut off,

but those who wait for the Lord shall linherit the land.

10  In mjust a little while, the wicked will be no more;

though you look carefully at nhis place, he will not be there.

11  But othe meek shall inherit the land

and delight themselves in pabundant peace.

12  The wicked qplots against the righteous

and rgnashes his teeth at him,

13  but the Lord slaughs at the wicked,

for he sees that his tday is coming.

14  The wicked draw the sword and ubend their bows

to bring down the poor and needy,

to slay those whose vway is upright;

15  their sword shall enter their own heart,

and their wbows shall be broken.

16  xBetter is the little that the righteous has

than the abundance of many wicked.

17  For ythe arms of the wicked shall be broken,

but the Lord zupholds the righteous.

18  The Lord aknows the days of the blameless,

and their bheritage will remain forever;

19  they are not put to shame in evil times;

in cthe days of famine they have abundance.

20  But the wicked will perish;

the enemies of the Lord are like dthe glory of the pastures;

they vanishlike esmoke they vanish away.

21  The wicked borrows but does not pay back,

but the righteous fis generous and gives;

22  for those blessed by the Lord3 shall ginherit the land,

but those cursed by him hshall be cut off.

23  The isteps of a man are jestablished by the Lord,

when he delights in his way;

24  kthough he fall, he shall not be cast headlong,

for the Lord lupholds his hand.

25  I have been young, and now am old,

yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken

or his children mbegging for bread.

26  He is ever nlending generously,

and his children become a blessing.

27  oTurn away from evil and do good;

so shall you pdwell forever.

28  For the Lord qloves justice;

he will not forsake his rsaints.

They are preserved forever,

but the children of the wicked shall be scut off.

29  The righteous shall inherit the land

and pdwell upon it forever.

30  The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom,

and his tongue speaks justice.

31  tThe law of his God is in his heart;

his usteps do not slip.

32  The wicked vwatches for the righteous

and seeks to put him to death.

33  The Lord will not wabandon him to his power

or let him xbe condemned when he is brought to trial.

34  yWait for the Lord and keep his way,

and he will exalt you to inherit the land;

you will look on zwhen the wicked are cut off.

35  aI have seen a wicked, ruthless man,

spreading himself like ba green laurel tree.4

36  But he passed away,5 and behold, che was no more;

though I sought him, he could not be found.

37  Mark the blameless and behold the upright,

for there is a future for the man of dpeace.

38  But etransgressors shall be altogether destroyed;

the future of the wicked fshall be cut off.

39  gThe salvation of the righteous is from the Lord;

he is their stronghold in hthe time of trouble.

40  The Lord helps them and idelivers them;

jhe delivers them from the wicked and saves them,

because they ktake refuge in him.