Feasts of the Lord
1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, pThese are the appointed feasts of the Lord that you shall qproclaim as rholy convocations; they are my appointed feasts.
The Sabbath
3 s“Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work. It is a Sabbath to the Lord in all your dwelling places.
The Passover
4 p“These are the appointed feasts of the Lord, the tholy convocations, which you shall proclaim at the time appointed for them. 5 uIn the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight,1 is the Lord’s Passover. 6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. 7 vOn the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work. 8 But you shall present a food offering to the Lord for seven days. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work.”
The Feast of Firstfruits
9 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 10 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, wWhen you come into the land that I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of xthe firstfruits of your harvest to the priest, 11 and he shall ywave the sheaf before the Lord, so that you may be accepted. On the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. 12 And on the day when you ywave the sheaf, you shall offer a zmale lamb a year old without blemish as a burnt offering to the Lord. 13 aAnd the grain offering with it shall be two tenths of an ephah2 of fine flour mixed with oil, a food offering to the Lord with a pleasing aroma, band the drink offering with it shall be of wine, a fourth of a hin.3 14 And you shall eat neither bread nor grain cparched or cfresh until this same day, until you have brought the offering of your God: it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
The Feast of Weeks
15 d“You shall count seven full weeks from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the ywave offering. 16 You shall count efifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. Then you shall present a grain offering of fnew grain to the Lord. 17 You shall bring from your dwelling places two loaves of bread to be waved, made of two tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour, and they shall be baked with leaven, as gfirstfruits to the Lord. 18 And you shall present with the bread seven lambs a year old without blemish, and one bull from the herd and two rams. They shall be a burnt offering to the Lord, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord. 19 And you shall offer one hmale goat for a sin offering, and two male lambs a year old as a sacrifice of ipeace offerings. 20 And the priest shall ywave them with the bread of the firstfruits as a wave offering before the Lord, with the two lambs. jThey shall be holy to the Lord for the priest. 21 And you shall make a proclamation on the same day. You shall hold a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work. It is a statute forever in all your dwelling places throughout your generations.
22 “And kwhen you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, nor shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.”
The Feast of Trumpets
23 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 24 “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, In lthe seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of solemn rest, ma memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets, a holy convocation. 25 You shall not do any ordinary work, and you shall present a food offering to the Lord.”
The Day of Atonement
26 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 27 “Now non the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. It shall be for you a time of holy convocation, and you shall afflict yourselves4 and present a food offering to the Lord. 28 And you shall not do any work on that very day, for it is a Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the Lord your God. 29 For whoever is not afflicted5 on that very day oshall be cut off from his people. 30 And whoever does any work on that very day, that person I will destroy from among his people. 31 You shall not do any work. It is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwelling places. 32 It shall be to you a Sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict yourselves. On the ninth day of the month beginning at evening, from evening to evening shall you keep your Sabbath.”
The Feast of Booths
33 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 34 “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, pOn the fifteenth day of this seventh month and for seven days is the Feast of Booths6 to the Lord. 35 On the first day shall be a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work. 36 For seven days you shall present food offerings to the Lord. qOn the eighth day you shall hold a holy convocation and present a food offering to the Lord. It is a rsolemn assembly; you shall not do any ordinary work.
37 s“These are the appointed feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim as times of holy convocation, for presenting to the Lord food offerings, burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings, each on its proper day, 38 tbesides the Lord’s Sabbaths and besides your gifts and besides all your vow offerings and besides all your freewill offerings, which you give to the Lord.
39 “On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have ugathered in the produce of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the Lord seven days. On the first day shall be a solemn rest, and on the eighth day shall be a solemn rest. 40 And vyou shall take on the first day the fruit of splendid trees, branches of palm trees and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and wyou shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days. 41 xYou shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It is a statute forever throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month. 42 yYou shall dwell in booths for seven days. All native Israelites shall dwell in booths, 43 that zyour generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”
44 Thus Moses adeclared to the people of Israel the appointed feasts of the Lord.
The Lamps
1 bThe Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Command the people of Israel to bring you pure oil from beaten olives for the lamp, that a light may be kept burning regularly. 3 Outside the veil of the testimony, in the tent of meeting, Aaron shall arrange it from evening to morning before the Lord regularly. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations. 4 He shall arrange the lamps on the clampstand of pure gold7 before the Lord regularly.
Bread for the Tabernacle
5 “You shall take fine flour and bake twelve dloaves from it; two tenths of an ephah8 shall be in each loaf. 6 And you shall set them in two piles, six in a pile, eon the table of pure gold9 before the Lord. 7 And you shall put pure frankincense on each pile, that it may go with the bread as a memorial portion as a food offering to the Lord. 8 fEvery Sabbath day Aaron shall arrange it before the Lord regularly; it is from the people of Israel as a covenant forever. 9 And git shall be for Aaron and his sons, and hthey shall eat it in a holy place, since it is for him a most holy portion out of the Lord’s food offerings, a perpetual due.”
Punishment for Blasphemy
10 Now an Israelite woman’s son, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the people of Israel. And the Israelite woman’s son and a man of Israel fought in the camp, 11 and the Israelite woman’s son iblasphemed the jName, and cursed. Then they kbrought him to Moses. His mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan. 12 And lthey put him in custody, mtill the will of the Lord should be clear to them.
13 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 14 n“Bring out of the camp the one who cursed, and let all who heard him olay their hands on his head, and let all the congregation stone him. 15 And speak to the people of Israel, saying, Whoever curses his God shall pbear his sin. 16 Whoever qblasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him. The sojourner as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death.
An Eye for an Eye
17 r“Whoever takes a human life shall surely be put to death. 18 sWhoever takes an animal’s life shall make it good, life for life. 19 If anyone injures his neighbor, tas he has done it shall be done to him, 20 fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; whatever injury he has given a person shall be given to him. 21 sWhoever kills an animal shall make it good, rand whoever kills a person shall be put to death. 22 You shall have the usame rule for the sojourner and for the native, for I am the Lord your God.” 23 So Moses spoke to the people of Israel, and vthey brought out of the camp the one who had cursed and stoned him with stones. Thus the people of Israel did as the Lord commanded Moses.
The Parable of the Sower
1 Again vhe began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, wso that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. 2 And xhe was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: 3 “Listen! yBehold, a sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. 5 Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. 6 And zwhen the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, ait withered away. 7 Other seed fell among bthorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. 8 And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and ca hundredfold.” 9 And he said, d“He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
The Purpose of the Parables
10 And ewhen he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. 11 And he said to them, f“To you has been given gthe secret of the kingdom of God, but for hthose outside everything is in parables, 12 iso that
“‘they jmay indeed see but not perceive,
and may indeed hear but not understand,
lest they kshould turn and be forgiven.’”
13 lAnd he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? 14 mThe sower sows nthe word. 15 And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. 16 And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it owith joy. 17 And they have no root in themselves, but pendure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately qthey fall away.1 18 And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, 19 but rthe cares of sthe world and tthe deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. 20 But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and ubear fruit, vthirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”
A Lamp Under a Basket
21 wAnd he said to them, x“Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket, or under a bed, and not on a stand? 22 yFor nothing is hidden except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret except to come to light. 23 zIf anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” 24 And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear: awith the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. 25 bFor to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”
The Parable of the Seed Growing
26 And he said, c“The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. 27 He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; dhe knows not how. 28 The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. 29 But when the grain is ripe, at once ehe puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”
The Parable of the Mustard Seed
30 fAnd he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? 31 It is like ga grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, 32 yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”
33 hWith many such parables he spoke ithe word to them, jas they were able to hear it. 34 He did not speak to them kwithout a parable, but lprivately to his own disciples he mexplained everything.
Jesus Calms a Storm
35 nOn that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” 36 And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. 37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves owere breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. 38 But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” 39 And he awoke and prebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and qthere was a great calm. 40 He said to them, “Why are you rso afraid? Have you still no faith?” 41 And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, s“Who then is this, that even tthe wind and the sea obey him?”
