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.
Beware of the Leaven of the Pharisees
1 In the meantime, twhen so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another, he began to say to his disciples first, u“Beware of vthe leaven of the Pharisees, wwhich is hypocrisy. 2 xNothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 3 Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in yprivate rooms shall be proclaimed on zthe housetops.
Have No Fear
4 “I tell you, my friends, ado not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. 5 But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him bwho, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell.1 Yes, I tell you, fear him! 6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies?2 And cnot one of them is forgotten before God. 7 Why, deven the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; eyou are of more value than many sparrows.
Acknowledge Christ Before Men
8 “And I tell you, feveryone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge gbefore the angels of God, 9 but hthe one who denies me before men iwill be denied gbefore the angels of God. 10 And jeveryone who speaks a word kagainst the Son of Man lwill be forgiven, but the one who mblasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. 11 nAnd when they obring you before the synagogues and pthe rulers and pthe authorities, qdo not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, 12 rfor the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”
