Laws for Burnt Offerings

1 ^(A)The Lord called Moses and spoke to him ^(B)from the tent of meeting, saying, ² “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, ^(C)When any one of you brings an offering to the Lord, you shall bring your offering of livestock from the herd or from the flock.

³ “If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer ^(D)a male without blemish. He shall bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before the Lord. ^4 (E)He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be ^(F)accepted for him ^(G)to make atonement for him. ⁵ Then he shall kill the bull before the Lord, and Aaron's sons the priests shall bring the blood ^(H)and throw the blood against the sides of the altar that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting. ⁶ Then he shall flay the burnt offering and cut it into pieces, ⁷ and the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire on the altar and ^(I)arrange wood on the fire. ⁸ And Aaron's sons the priests shall arrange the pieces, the head, and the fat, on the wood that is on the fire on the altar; ⁹ but its entrails and its legs he shall wash with water. And the priest shall burn all of it on the altar, as ^(J)a burnt offering, a food offering^[a] with a ^(K)pleasing aroma to the Lord.

¹⁰ “If his gift for a burnt offering is from the flock, from the sheep or goats, he shall bring a male without blemish, ^11 (L)and he shall kill it on the north side of the altar before the Lord, and Aaron's sons the priests shall throw its blood against the sides of the altar. ¹² And he shall cut it into pieces, with its head and its fat, and the priest shall arrange them on the wood that is on the fire on the altar, ¹³ but the entrails and the legs he shall wash with water. And the priest shall offer all of it and burn it on the altar; it is ^(M)a burnt offering, a food offering with ^(N)a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

¹⁴ “If his offering to the Lord is a burnt offering of birds, then he shall bring his offering of ^(O)turtledoves or pigeons. ¹⁵ And the priest shall bring it to the altar and wring off its head and burn it on the altar. Its blood shall be drained out on the side of the altar. ¹⁶ He shall remove its crop with its contents^[b] and cast it ^(P)beside the altar on the east side, in the place for ashes. ¹⁷ He shall tear it open by its wings, but ^(Q)shall not sever it completely. And the priest shall burn it on the altar, on the wood that is on the fire. It is a burnt offering, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

^26 (A)Jeroboam the son of Nebat, ^(B)an Ephraimite of Zeredah, a servant of Solomon, whose mother's name was Zeruah, a widow, also ^(C)lifted up his hand against the king. ²⁷ And this was the reason why he lifted up his hand against the king. ^(D)Solomon built the Millo, and closed up the breach of the city of David his father. ²⁸ The man Jeroboam was very able, and when Solomon saw that the young man was industrious he gave him charge over all the forced labor of the house of Joseph. ²⁹ And at that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, the prophet ^(E)Ahijah the Shilonite found him on the road. Now Ahijah had dressed himself in a new garment, and the two of them were alone in the open country. ³⁰ Then Ahijah laid hold of the new garment that was on him, ^(F)and tore it into twelve pieces. ³¹ And he said to Jeroboam, “Take for yourself ten pieces, for thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, ^(G)I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon and will give you ten tribes ³² (but ^(H)he shall have one tribe, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, ^(I)the city that I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel), ³³ because they have^[a] forsaken me ^(J)and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the Ammonites, and they have not walked in my ways, doing what is right in my sight and keeping my statutes and my rules, as David his father did. ³⁴ Nevertheless, I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, but I will make him ruler all the days of his life, for the sake of David my servant whom I chose, who kept my commandments and my statutes. ^35 (K)But I will take the kingdom out of his son's hand and will give it to you, ten tribes. ³⁶ Yet to his son ^(L)I will give one tribe, that David my servant may always have ^(M)a lamp before me in Jerusalem, ^(N)the city where I have chosen to put my name. ³⁷ And I will take you, and you shall reign over all that your soul desires, and you shall be king over Israel. ³⁸ And if you will listen to all that I command you, and will walk in my ways, and do what is right in my eyes by keeping my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did, ^(O)I will be with you and ^(P)will build you a sure house, as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you. ³⁹ And I will afflict the offspring of David because of this, but not forever.’” ⁴⁰ Solomon sought therefore to kill Jeroboam. But Jeroboam arose and fled into Egypt, to ^(Q)Shishak king of Egypt, and was in Egypt until the death of Solomon.

^41 (R)Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all that he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the Book of the Acts of Solomon? ⁴² And the time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years. ⁴³ And Solomon ^(S)slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David his father. And ^(T)Rehoboam his son reigned in his place.

In the Day of Trouble I Seek the Lord

To the choirmaster: according to ^(A)Jeduthun. A Psalm of ^(B)Asaph.

Birth of Jesus Foretold

²⁶ In the sixth month the angel ^(A)Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named ^(B)Nazareth, ^27 (C)to a virgin betrothed^[a] to a man whose name was Joseph, ^(D)of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. ²⁸ And he came to her and said, “Greetings, ^(E)O favored one, ^(F)the Lord is with you!”^{[b] 29} But ^(G)she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. ³⁰ And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for ^(H)you have found favor with God. ³¹ And behold, ^(I)you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and ^(J)you shall call his name Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of ^(K)the Most High. And the Lord God ^(L)will give to him the throne of ^(M)his father David, ³³ and he will reign over the house of Jacob ^(N)forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

³⁴ And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”^[c]

³⁵ And the angel answered her, ^(O)“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of ^(P)the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born^[d] will be called ^(Q)holy—^(R)the Son of God. ³⁶ And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her ^(S)who was called barren. ³⁷ For ^(T)nothing will be impossible with God.” ³⁸ And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant^[e] of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And ^(U)the angel departed from her.

Sexual Immorality Defiles the Church

5 It is actually reported that there is ^(A)sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, ^(B)for a man has his father's wife. ² And ^(C)you are arrogant! Ought you ^(D)not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.

³ For though ^(E)absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. ⁴ When you are assembled ^(F)in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, ⁵ you are ^(G)to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so ^(H)that his spirit may be saved ^(I)in the day of the Lord.^[a]

^6 (J)Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that ^(K)a little leaven leavens the whole lump? ⁷ Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. ⁸ Let us therefore celebrate the festival, ^(L)not with the old leaven, ^(M)the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

⁹ I wrote to you in my letter ^(N)not to associate with sexually immoral people— ^10 (O)not at all meaning ^(P)the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, ^(Q)since then you would need to go out of the world. ¹¹ But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone ^(R)who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. ¹² For what have I to do with judging ^(S)outsiders? ^(T)Is it not those inside the church^[b] whom you are to judge? ¹³ God judges^[c] those outside. ^(U)“Purge the evil person from among you.”