The Place of Sacrifice
1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “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. 3 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, 4 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. 5 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. 6 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. 7 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.
8 “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 9 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 creature1 is its kblood: its blood is its life.2 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
1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, qI am the Lord your God. 3 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. 4 tYou shall follow my rules3 and keep my statutes and walk in them. qI am the Lord your God. 5 tYou shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; uif a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the Lord.
6 “None of you shall approach any one of his close relatives to uncover nakedness. I am the Lord. 7 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. 8 wYou shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife; it is your father’s nakedness. 9 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 c“You 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 them4 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 k“Do 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.”
Jesus Heals a Paralytic
1 And when he returned to tCapernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. 2 And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them. 3 uAnd they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. 4 And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, vthey removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. 5 And when Jesus wsaw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, xyour sins are forgiven.” 6 Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, 7 “Why does this man speak like that? yHe is blaspheming! zWho can forgive sins but God alone?” 8 And immediately Jesus, aperceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question these things in your hearts? 9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’? 10 But that you may know that bthe Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— 11 “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.” 12 And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and cglorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”
Jesus Calls Levi
13 He went out again beside the sea, and dall the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them. 14 eAnd as he passed by, he saw fLevi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.
15 And as he reclined at table in his house, many gtax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16 And hthe scribes of1 the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, g“Why does he eat2 with tax collectors and sinners?” 17 And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. iI came not to call the righteous, jbut sinners.”
A Question About Fasting
18 Now kJohn’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, l“Why do John’s disciples and mthe disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” 19 And Jesus said to them, n“Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20 oThe days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and pthen they will fast in that day. 21 No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. 22 And no one puts new wine into old qwineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.”3
Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath
23 rOne Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, his disciples sbegan to pluck heads of grain. 24 And the Pharisees were saying to him, “Look, twhy are they doing uwhat is not lawful on the Sabbath?” 25 And he said to them, v“Have you never read wwhat David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: 26 how he entered the house of God, in the time of4 xAbiathar the high priest, and ate ythe bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?” 27 And he said to them, z“The Sabbath was made for man, anot man for the Sabbath. 28 So bthe Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”
