Regulations concerning Priests

21 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them:

‘No one shall defile himself [that is, become ceremonially unclean] for the dead among his people [by touching a corpse or assisting in preparing it for burial], ² except for his relatives who are nearest to him, his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, and his brother, ³ also his virgin sister, who is near to him because she has had no husband; for her he may become unclean. ⁴ He shall not become unclean as a relative by marriage among his people, and so profane himself. ⁵ The priests ^[a]shall not shave their heads, nor shave off the edges of their beards, nor make any cuts in their body. ⁶ They shall be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God; for they present the offerings by fire to the Lord, the food of their God; so they shall be holy. ⁷ They shall not take [as a wife] a woman who is a prostitute, nor a woman who is divorced from her husband; for the priest is holy to his God. ⁸ You shall consecrate him, therefore, for he offers the food of your God; he shall be holy to you; for I the Lord, who sanctifies you, am holy. ⁹ The daughter of any priest who profanes herself by prostitution profanes her father; she shall be burned in fire.^(A)

¹⁰ ‘But he who is the high priest among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil has been poured and who has been consecrated to wear the [sacred] garments, shall not uncover his head nor tear his clothes [in mourning], ¹¹ nor shall he approach any dead person, nor defile himself [by doing so, even] for his father or for his mother; ¹² nor shall he go out of the sanctuary nor profane (make ceremonially unclean) the sanctuary of his God, for the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is on him; I am the Lord. ¹³ He shall take a wife in her virginity. ¹⁴ He may not marry a widow or a divorced woman or one who is profaned by prostitution, but he is to marry a virgin from his own people,^{(B) 15} so that he will not profane or dishonor his children among his people; for I am the Lord who sanctifies the high priest.’”

¹⁶ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁷ “Say to Aaron, ‘Throughout their generations none of your descendants who has any [physical] defect shall approach [the altar] to present the food of his God. ¹⁸ For no man who has a defect shall approach [God’s altar as a priest]: no man who is blind or lame, or who has a disfigured face, or any deformed limb, ¹⁹ or a man who has a broken foot or a broken hand, ²⁰ or a hunchback or a dwarf, or one who has a defect in his eye or eczema or scabs or crushed testicles. ²¹ No man among the descendants of Aaron the priest who has a [physical] defect and is disfigured or deformed is to approach [the altar] to present the offerings of the Lord by fire. He has a defect; he shall not approach [the altar] to present the food of his God. ²² He may eat the food of his God, both of the most holy and of the holy things, ²³ but he shall not go within the veil or approach the altar [of incense], because he has a defect, so that he will not profane My sanctuaries; for I am the Lord who sanctifies them.’”^{(C) 24} So Moses spoke to Aaron and to his sons, and to all the Israelites.

Various Rules for Priests

22 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Tell Aaron and his sons to be careful with the holy things (offerings, gifts) which the children of Israel dedicate to Me, so that they do not profane My holy name; I am the Lord. ³ Say to them, ‘Any one of your descendants throughout your generations who approaches the holy things which the Israelites dedicate to the Lord, while he is [ceremonially] unclean, that person shall be cut off from My presence and excluded from the sanctuary; I am the Lord. ⁴ No man of the descendants of Aaron who is a leper or has a discharge may eat the holy things [the offerings and the showbread] until he is clean. And whoever touches any person or thing made unclean by contact with a corpse or a man who has had a seminal emission, ⁵ or whoever touches any crawling thing by which he is made unclean, or any person by whom he is made unclean, whatever it may be,^{(D) 6} the person who touches any such thing shall be unclean until evening and shall not eat the holy things unless he has bathed his body in water.^{(E) 7} When the sun sets, he will be clean, and afterward he may eat the holy things, for it is his food. ⁸ He shall not eat that which dies [of natural causes] or is torn by a predator, becoming unclean by it; I am the Lord. ⁹ Therefore the priests shall observe My ordinance, so that they will not bear sin because of it and die if they profane it; I am the Lord who sanctifies them.

¹⁰ ‘No layman [that is, someone outside of Aaron’s family] is to eat the holy gift [which has been offered to God]; a foreigner residing with the priest or a hired man shall not eat the holy thing. ¹¹ But if a priest buys a slave as his property with his money, the slave may eat the holy thing, and those who are born in the priest’s house; they may eat his food. ¹² If a priest’s daughter is married to a layman [one not part of the priestly tribe], she shall not eat the offering of the holy things. ¹³ But if a priest’s daughter is a widow or divorced, and has no child, and returns to her father’s house as in her youth, she shall eat her father’s food; but no layman shall eat it. ¹⁴ But if a person unknowingly eats a holy gift [which has been offered to God], then he shall add one-fifth of its value to it and give the holy gift to the priest. ¹⁵ The priests shall not profane the holy things the Israelites offer to the Lord, ¹⁶ and so cause them [by neglect of any essential observance] to bear the ^[b]punishment of guilt when they eat their holy things; for I am the Lord who sanctifies them.’”

Flawless Animals for Sacrifice

¹⁷ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁸ “Speak to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites and say to them, ‘Any man of the house of Israel or any stranger in Israel who presents his offering, whether to fulfill any of their vows or as any of their freewill (voluntary) offerings which they presented to the Lord as a burnt offering— ¹⁹ so that you may be accepted—it must be a male without blemish from the cattle, the sheep, or the goats. ²⁰ You shall not offer anything which has a blemish, because it will not be accepted for you.^{(F) 21} Whoever offers a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord to fulfill a special vow to the Lord or as a freewill offering from the herd or from the flock, it must be perfect to be accepted; there shall be no blemish in it. ²² Animals that are blind or fractured or mutilated, or have a sore or a running wound or an itch or scabs, you shall not offer to the Lord nor make an offering of them by fire on the altar to the Lord. ²³ For a freewill offering you may offer either a bull or a lamb which has an overgrown or stunted member (deformity), but for [the payment of] a vow it will not be accepted. ²⁴ You shall not offer to the Lord any animal which has its testicles bruised or crushed or torn or cut off, or sacrifice it in your land. ²⁵ Nor shall you offer as the food of your God any such [animals obtained] from a foreigner, because their corruption and blemish makes them unfit; there is a defect in them, they shall not be accepted for you.’”

²⁶ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁷ “When a bull or a sheep or a goat is born, it shall remain for seven days with its mother; and after the eighth day it shall be accepted as an offering by fire to the Lord. ²⁸ And whether [the mother] is a cow or a sheep, you shall not kill both it and its young in one day. ²⁹ When you sacrifice an offering of thanksgiving to the Lord, you shall sacrifice it so that you may be accepted. ³⁰ It shall be eaten on the same day; you shall leave none of it until the next morning; I am the Lord. ³¹ So you shall keep My commandments and do them; I am the Lord.

³² “You shall not profane My holy name [using it to honor an idol, or treating it with irreverence or contempt or as a byword]; but I will be sanctified (set apart as holy) among the Israelites. I am the Lord, who sanctifies and declares you holy, ³³ who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God; I am the Lord.”

Jesus Is Risen!

28 Now after the Sabbath, near dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other ^[a]Mary went to look at the tomb.^{(A) 2} And a great earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone [from the opening of the tomb], and sat on it. ³ The angel’s appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were as white as snow. ⁴ The guards shook, paralyzed with fear [at the sight] of him and became like dead men [pale and immobile]. ⁵ But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. ⁶ He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said [He would]. Come! See the place where He was lying. ⁷ Then go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee [as He promised]. There you will see Him; behold, I have told you.”

⁸ So the women left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell [the good news to] the disciples. ⁹ And as they went, suddenly, Jesus met them, saying, “Rejoice!” And they went to Him and took hold of His feet [in homage] and worshiped Him [as the Messiah]. ¹⁰ Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell My brothers to leave for Galilee, and there they will see Me [just as I promised].”

¹¹ While they were on their way, some of the [Roman] guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. ¹² And when the chief priests had gathered with the elders and had consulted together [to develop a plan of deception], they gave a sufficient sum of money [as a bribe] to the soldiers, ¹³ and said, “You say this, ‘His disciples came at night and stole Him while we were sleeping.’ ¹⁴ And if the governor (Pilate) hears about it, we will calm him down and keep you out of trouble.” ¹⁵ So they took the money [they were paid for lying] and did as they were instructed; and this [fabricated] story was widely spread among the Jews, and is to the present day.

The Great Commission

¹⁶ Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. ¹⁷ And when they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted [that it was really He]. ¹⁸ Jesus came up and said to them, “All authority (all power of absolute rule) in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations [help the people to learn of Me, believe in Me, and obey My words], baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always [remaining with you perpetually—regardless of circumstance, and on every occasion], even to the end of the age.”