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Leviticus 21

Instructions for Priests

   Touching a dead body will make you unclean. So don't go near a dead relative, ²except your mother, father, son, daughter, brother, ³or an unmarried sister, who has no husband to take care of her. ⁴Don't make yourself unclean by attending the funeral of someone related to you by marriage. ^{[a] 5}Don't shave any part of your head or trim your beard or cut yourself to show that you are mourning. ⁶I am the LORD your God, and I have chosen you alone to offer sacrifices of food to me on the altar. That's why you must keep yourselves holy. ⁷Don't marry a divorced woman or a woman who has served as a temple prostitute. You are holy, ⁸because I am holy. And so, you must be treated with proper respect, since you offer food sacrifices to me, the God of holiness. ⁹If any of you priests has a daughter who disgraces you by serving as a temple prostitute, she must be burned to death.

    ¹⁰If you are the high priest, you must not mess up your hair or tear your clothes in order to mourn for the dead. ¹¹Don't make yourself unclean by going near a dead body, not even that of your own father or mother. ¹²If you leave the sacred place to attend a funeral, both you and the sacred place become unclean, because you are the high priest.

    ¹³If you are the high priest, you must marry only a virgin ¹⁴from your own tribe. Don't marry a divorced woman or any other woman who has already had sex, including a temple prostitute. ¹⁵In this way, your descendants will be qualified to serve me. Remember--I am the LORD, and I have chosen you.

    ¹⁶The LORD told Moses ^17-18to say to Aaron:

   No descendant of yours can ever serve as my priest if he is blind or lame, if his face is disfigured, if one leg is shorter than the other, ¹⁹if either a foot or a hand is crippled, ²⁰if he is a hunchback or a dwarf, if an eye or his skin is diseased, or if his testicles have been damaged. ²¹These men may not serve as my priests and burn sacrifices to me. ²²They may eat the food offerings presented to me, ²³but they may not enter the sacred place or serve me at the altar. Remember--I am the LORD, the one who makes a priest holy.

    ²⁴Moses told all of this to Aaron, his sons, and the people of Israel.

Leviticus 22

The Offerings Are Holy

   I am the LORD God, and I demand that you honor my holy name by showing proper respect for the offerings brought to me by the people of Israel. ³If any of you are unclean when you accept an offering for me, I will no longer let you serve as a priest. ⁴None of you may take part in the sacred meals while you have a skin disease or an infected penis, or after you have been near a dead body or have had a flow of semen, ⁵or if you have touched an unclean creature of any sort, including an unclean person. ^6-7Once you are unclean, you must take a bath, but you still cannot eat any of the sacred food until evening. ⁸I command you not to eat anything that is killed by a wild animal or dies a natural death. This would make you unclean. ⁹Obey me, or you will die on duty for disgracing the place of worship. Remember--I am the LORD, the one who makes a priest holy.

    ¹⁰Only you priests and your families may eat the food offerings; these are too sacred for any of your servants. ¹¹However, any slave that you own, including those born into your household, may eat this food. ¹²If your daughter marries someone who isn't a priest, she can no longer have any of this food. ¹³But if she returns to your home, either widowed or divorced, and has no children, she may join in the meal. Only members of a priestly family can eat this food, ¹⁴and anyone else who accidentally does so, must pay for the food plus a fine of twenty percent.

    ¹⁵I warn you not to treat lightly the offerings that are brought by the people of Israel. ¹⁶Don't let them become guilty of eating this sacred food. Remember--I am the LORD, the one who makes these offerings holy.

Acceptable Sacrifices

   The animals that are to be completely burned on the altar ^19-20must have nothing wrong with them, or else I won't accept them. Bulls or rams or goats ^[b] are the animals to be used for these sacrifices. ²¹When you offer a sacrifice to ask my blessing, ^[c] there must be nothing wrong with the animal. This is true, whether the sacrifice is part of a promise or something you do voluntarily. ²²Don't offer an animal that is blind or injured or that has an infection or a skin disease. ²³If one of your cattle or lambs has a leg that is longer or shorter than the others, you may offer it voluntarily, but not as part of a promise. ²⁴As long as you live in this land, don't offer an animal with injured testicles. ²⁵And don't bring me animals you bought from a foreigner. I won't accept them, because they are no better than one that has something wrong with it. ²⁶The LORD told Moses to say:

    ²⁷Newborn cattle, sheep, or goats must remain with their mothers for seven days, but on the eighth day, you may send them up in smoke to me, and I will accept the offering. ²⁸Don't sacrifice a newborn animal and its mother on the same day.

    ²⁹When you offer a sacrifice to give thanks ^[d] to me, you must do it in a way that is acceptable. ³⁰Eat all of the meat that same day and don't save any for the next day. I am the LORD your God! ³¹Obey my laws and teachings--I am the LORD. ^32-33I demand respect from the people of Israel, so don't disgrace my holy name. Remember--I am the one who chose you to be priests and rescued all of you from Egypt, so that I would be your LORD.

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Matthew 28

Jesus Is Alive

(Mark 16.1-8; Luke 24.1-12; John 20.1-10)

    ⁵The angel said to the women, "Don't be afraid! I know you are looking for Jesus, who was nailed to a cross. ⁶He isn't here! God has raised him to life, just as Jesus said he would. Come, see the place where his body was lying. ⁷Now hurry! Tell his disciples that he has been raised to life and is on his way to Galilee. Go there, and you will see him. That is what I came to tell you."

    ⁸The women were frightened and yet very happy, as they hurried from the tomb and ran to tell his disciples. ⁹Suddenly Jesus met them and greeted them. They went near him, held on to his feet, and worshiped him. ¹⁰Then Jesus said, "Don't be afraid! Tell my followers to go to Galilee. They will see me there."

Report of the Guard

What Jesus' Followers Must Do

(Mark 16.14-18; Luke 24.36-49; John 20.19-23; Acts 1.6-8)

    ¹⁸Jesus came to them and said:

   I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth! ¹⁹Go to the people of all nations and make them my disciples. Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, ²⁰and teach them to do everything I have told you. I will be with you always, even until the end of the world.