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Numbers 15

Laws about Sacrifices

    ³Bulls or rams or goats ^[a] are the animals that you may burn on the altar as sacrifices to please me. ^[b] You may also offer sacrifices voluntarily or because you made a promise, or because they are part of your regular religious ceremonies. The smell of the smoke from these sacrifices is pleasing to me. ^4-5If you sacrifice a young ram or goat, you must also offer two pounds of your finest flour mixed with a quart of olive oil as a grain sacrifice. A quart of wine must also be poured on the altar.

    ^6-7And if the animal is a full-grown ram, you must offer four pounds of flour mixed with one and a half quarts of olive oil. One and a half quarts of wine must also be poured on the altar. The smell of this smoke is pleasing to me.

    ⁸If a bull is offered as a sacrifice to please me or to ask my blessing, ^{[c] 9}you must offer six pounds of flour mixed with two quarts of olive oil. ¹⁰Two quarts of wine must also be poured on the altar. The smell of this smoke is pleasing to me. ^11-13If you are a native Israelite, you must obey these rules each time you offer a bull, a ram, or a goat as a sacrifice. ¹⁴And the foreigners who live among you must also follow these rules. ^15-16This law will never change. I am the LORD, and I consider all people the same, whether they are Israelites or foreigners living among you.

    ^17-19When you eat food in the land that I am giving you, remember to set aside some of it as an offering to me. ²⁰From the first batch of bread dough that you make after each new grain harvest, make a loaf of bread and offer it to me, just as you offer grain. ²¹All your descendants must follow this law and offer part of the first batch of bread dough.

    ^22-23The LORD also told Moses to tell the people what must be done if they ever disobey his laws:

    ²⁴If all of you disobey one of my laws without meaning to, you must offer a bull as a sacrifice to please me, together with a grain sacrifice, a wine offering, and a goat as a sacrifice for sin. ²⁵Then the priest will pray and ask me to forgive you. And since you did not mean to do wrong, and you offered sacrifices, ²⁶the sin of everyone--both Israelites and foreigners among you--will be forgiven.

    ²⁷But if one of you does wrong without meaning to, you must sacrifice a year-old female goat as a sacrifice for sin. ²⁸The priest will then ask me to forgive you, and your sin will be forgiven.

    ²⁹The law will be the same for anyone who does wrong without meaning to, whether an Israelite or a foreigner living among you.

    ^30-31But if one of you does wrong on purpose, whether Israelite or foreigner, you have sinned against me by disobeying my laws. You will be sent away and will no longer live among the people of Israel.

A Man Put to Death for Gathering Firewood on the Sabbath

The Tassels on the People's Clothes

Numbers 16

Korah, Dathan, and Abiram Lead a Rebellion

    ^6-7Korah, now here is what you and your followers must do: Get some fire pans, fill them with coals and incense, and place them near the sacred tent. And the man the LORD chooses will be his priest. ^[g] Korah, this time you Levites have gone too far! ^8-9You know that the God of Israel has chosen you Levites from all Israel to serve him by being in charge of the sacred tent and by helping the community to worship in the proper way. What more do you want? ¹⁰The LORD has given you a special responsibility, and now, Korah, you think you should also be his priest. ¹¹You and your followers have rebelled against the LORD, not against Aaron.

    ¹²Then Moses sent for Dathan and Abiram, but they sent back this message: " We won't come! ¹³It's bad enough that you took us from our rich farmland in Egypt to let us die here in the desert. Now you also want to boss us around! ¹⁴You keep promising us rich farmlands with fertile fields and vineyards--but where are they? Stop trying to trick these people. No, we won't come to see you."

    ¹⁵Moses was very angry and said to the LORD, " Don't listen to these men! I haven't done anything wrong to them. I haven't taken as much as a donkey."

    ¹⁶Then he said to Korah, " Tomorrow you and your followers must go with Aaron to the LORD's sacred tent. ¹⁷Each of you take along your fire pan with incense in it and offer the incense to the LORD."

    ¹⁸The next day the men placed incense and coals in their fire pans and stood with Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the sacred tent. ¹⁹Meanwhile, Korah had convinced the rest of the Israelites to rebel against their two leaders.

   When that happened, the LORD appeared in all his glory ²⁰and said to Moses and Aaron, ²¹" Get away from the rest of the Israelites so I can kill them right now!"

    ²²But the two men bowed down and prayed, " Our God, you gave these people life. Why would you punish everyone here when only one man has sinned?"

    ²³The LORD answered Moses, ²⁴" Tell the people to stay away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram."

    ²⁵Moses walked over to Dathan and Abiram, and the other leaders of Israel followed. ²⁶Then Moses warned the people, " Get away from the tents of these sinful men! Don't touch anything that belongs to them or you'll be wiped out." ²⁷So everyone moved away from those tents, except Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and their families.

    ²⁸Moses said to the crowd, " The LORD has chosen me and told me to do these things--it wasn't my idea. And here's how you will know: ²⁹If these men die a natural death, it means the LORD hasn't chosen me. ³⁰But suppose the LORD does something that has never been done before. For example, what if a huge crack appears in the ground, and these men and their families fall into it and are buried alive, together with everything they own? Then you will know they have turned their backs on the LORD!"

    ³¹As soon as Moses said this, the ground under the men opened up ^32-33and swallowed them alive, together with their families and everything they owned. Then the ground closed back up, and they were gone.

    ³⁴The rest of the Israelites heard their screams, so they ran off, shouting, " We don't want that to happen to us!"

    ³⁵Suddenly the LORD sent a fire that burned up the two hundred fifty men who had offered incense to him.

    ³⁶Then the LORD said to Moses, ³⁷" Tell Aaron's son Eleazar to take the fire pans from the smoldering fire and scatter the coals. The pans are now sacred, ³⁸because they were used for offering incense to me. Have them hammered into a thin layer of bronze as a covering for the altar. Those men died because of their sin, and now their fire pans will become a warning for the rest of the community."

    ³⁹Eleazar collected the pans and had them hammered into a thin layer of bronze as a covering for the altar, ⁴⁰just as the LORD had told Moses. The pans were a warning to the Israelites that only Aaron's descendants would be allowed to offer incense to the LORD. Anyone else who tried would be punished like Korah and his followers.

The Israelites Rebel and Are Punished

    ⁴²As the people crowded around them, Moses and Aaron turned toward the sacred tent, and the LORD appeared in his glory in the cloud covering the tent. ⁴³So Moses and Aaron walked to the front of the tent, ⁴⁴where the LORD said to them, ⁴⁵" Stand back! I am going to wipe out these Israelites once and for all."

   They immediately bowed down and prayed. ⁴⁶Then Moses told Aaron, " Grab your fire pan and fill it with hot coals from the altar. Put incense in it, then quickly take it to where the people are and offer it to the LORD, so they can be forgiven. The LORD is very angry, and people have already started dying!"

    ^47-48Aaron did exactly what he had been told. He ran over to the crowd of people and stood between the dead bodies and the people who were still alive. He placed the incense on the pan, then offered it to the LORD and asked him to forgive the people's sin. The disease immediately stopped spreading, and no one else died from it. ⁴⁹But fourteen thousand seven hundred Israelites were dead, not counting those who had died with Korah and his followers.

    ⁵⁰Aaron walked back and stood with Moses at the sacred tent.

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Mark 6

The People of Nazareth Turn against Jesus

(Matthew 13.53-58; Luke 4.16-30)

    ⁴But Jesus said, "Prophets are honored by everyone, except the people of their hometown and their relatives and their own family." ⁵Jesus could not work any miracles there, except to heal a few sick people by placing his hands on them. ⁶He was surprised that the people did not have any faith.

   Jesus taught in all the neighboring villages.

Instructions for the Twelve Apostles

(Matthew 10.5-15; Luke 9.1-6)

    ¹²The apostles left and started telling everyone to turn to God. ¹³They forced out many demons and healed a lot of sick people by putting olive oil ^[d] on them.

The Death of John the Baptist

(Matthew 14.1-12; Luke 9.7-9)

    ^17-18Herod had earlier married Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip. But John had told him, "It isn't right for you to take your brother's wife!" So, in order to please Herodias, Herod arrested John and put him in prison.

    ¹⁹Herodias had a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she could not do it ²⁰because Herod was afraid of John and protected him. He knew that John was a good and holy man. Even though Herod was confused by what John said, ^[g] he was glad to listen to him. And he often did.

    ²¹Finally, Herodias got her chance when Herod gave a great birthday celebration for himself and invited his officials, his army officers, and the leaders of Galilee. ²²The daughter of Herodias ^[h] came in and danced for Herod and his guests. She pleased them so much that Herod said, "Ask for anything, and it's yours! ²³I swear that I will give you as much as half of my kingdom, if you want it."

    ²⁴The girl left and asked her mother, "What do you think I should ask for?"

   Her mother answered, "The head of John the Baptist!"

    ²⁵The girl hurried back and told Herod, "Right now on a platter I want the head of John the Baptist!"

    ²⁶The king was very sorry for what he had said. But he did not want to break the promise he had made in front of his guests. ²⁷At once he ordered a guard to cut off John's head there in prison. ²⁸The guard put the head on a platter and took it to the girl. Then she gave it to her mother.

    ²⁹When John's followers learned that he had been killed, they took his body and put it in a tomb.