You Shall Be Holy

22 ^o“You shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my rules and do them, that the land where I am bringing you to live may not ^pvomit you out. 23 ^qAnd you shall not walk in the customs of the nation that I am driving out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I detested them. 24 But ^rI have said to you, ‘You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land ^sflowing with milk and honey.’ I am the Lord your God, ^twho has separated you from the peoples. 25 ^uYou shall therefore separate the clean beast from the unclean, and the unclean bird from the clean. You shall not make yourselves detestable by beast or by bird or by anything with which the ground crawls, which I have set apart for you to hold unclean. 26 ^vYou shall be holy to me, ^wfor I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.

27 ^x“A man or a woman who is a medium or a necromancer shall surely be put to death. They shall be ^ystoned with stones; ^ztheir blood shall be upon them.”

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 y}for 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.”

1 And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not ^ltaste death ^muntil they see the kingdom of God after it has come ⁿwith power.”

The Transfiguration

2 ^oAnd after six days Jesus took with him ^pPeter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was ^qtransfigured before them, 3 and ^rhis clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one¹ on earth could bleach them. 4 And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. 5 And Peter said to Jesus, ^s“Rabbi,² it is good that we are here. Let us make three ^ttents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 6 For ^uhe did not know what to say, for they were terrified. 7 And ^va cloud overshadowed them, and ^va voice came out of the cloud, ^w“This is my beloved Son;^{3 x}listen to him.” 8 And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only.

9 ^yAnd as they were coming down the mountain, ^zhe charged them to tell no one what they had seen, ^auntil the Son of Man had risen from the dead. 10 ^bSo they kept the matter to themselves, ^cquestioning what this rising from the dead might mean. 11 And they asked him, “Why do the scribes say ^dthat first Elijah must come?” 12 And he said to them, “Elijah does come first ^eto restore all things. And ^fhow is it written of the Son of Man that he should ^gsuffer many things and ^hbe treated with contempt? 13 But I tell you that Elijah has come, and ⁱthey did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written of him.”

Jesus Heals a Boy with an Unclean Spirit

14 ^jAnd when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. 15 And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, ^kwere greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him. 16 And he asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?” 17 And someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has ^la spirit that makes him mute. 18 And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and ^mthey were not able.” 19 And he answered them, “O ⁿfaithless generation, ⁿhow long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.” 20 And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it ^oconvulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. 21 And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. 22 And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But ^pif you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” 23 And Jesus said to him, ^p“‘If you can’! ^qAll things are possible for one who believes.” 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out⁴ and said, “I believe; ^rhelp my unbelief!” 25 And when Jesus saw that ^sa crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, ^t“You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” 26 And after crying out and ^oconvulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.” 27 But Jesus ^utook him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. 28 And when he had ^ventered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” 29 And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”⁵

Send Out Your Light and Your Truth