The Daily Audio Bible

Sexual Uncleanness

15 The Lord told Moses and Aaron ² to say to the community of Israel:

Any man with an infected penis is unclean, ³ whether it is stopped up or keeps dripping. ⁴ Anything that he rests on or sits on is also unclean, ^5-7 and if you touch either these or him, you must wash your clothes and take a bath, but you still remain unclean until evening.

⁸ If you are spit on by the man, you must wash your clothes and take a bath, but you still remain unclean until evening. ^9-10 Any saddle or seat on which the man sits is unclean. And if you touch or carry either of these, you must wash your clothes and take a bath, but you still remain unclean until evening. ¹¹ If the man touches you without first washing his hands, you must wash your clothes and take a bath, but you still remain unclean until evening. ¹² Any clay pot that he touches must be destroyed, and any wooden bowl that he touches must be washed.

¹³ Seven days after the man gets well, he will be considered clean, if he washes his clothes and takes a bath in spring water. ¹⁴ On the eighth day he must bring either two doves or two pigeons to the front of my sacred tent and give them to a priest. ¹⁵ The priest will offer one of the birds as a sacrifice for sin and the other as a sacrifice to please me,^[a] then I will consider the man completely clean.

¹⁶ Any man who has a flow of semen must take a bath, but he still remains unclean until evening. ¹⁷ If the semen touches anything made of cloth or leather, these must be washed, but they still remain unclean until evening. ¹⁸ After having sex, both the man and the woman must take a bath, but they still remain unclean until evening.

¹⁹ When a woman has her monthly period, she remains unclean for seven days, and if you touch her, you must take a bath, but you remain unclean until evening. ^20-23 Anything that she rests on or sits on is also unclean, and if you touch either of these, you must wash your clothes and take a bath, but you still remain unclean until evening. ²⁴ Any man who has sex with her during this time becomes unclean for seven days, and anything he rests on is also unclean.

²⁵ Any woman who has a flow of blood outside her regular monthly period is unclean until it stops, just as she is during her monthly period. ²⁶ Anything that she rests on or sits on during this time is also unclean, just as it would be during her period. ²⁷ If you touch either of these, you must wash your clothes and take a bath, but you still remain unclean until evening.

²⁸ Seven days after the woman gets well, she will be considered clean. ²⁹ On the eighth day, she must bring either two doves or two pigeons to the front of my sacred tent and give them to a priest. ³⁰ He will offer one of the birds as a sacrifice for sin and the other as a sacrifice to please me; then I will consider the woman completely clean.

³¹ When any of you are unclean, you must stay away from the rest of the community of Israel. Otherwise, my sacred tent will become unclean, and the whole nation will die.

^32-33 These are the things you men must do if you become unclean because of an infected penis or if you have a flow of semen. And these are the things you women must do when you become unclean either because of your monthly period or an unusual flow of blood. This is also what you men must do if you have sex with a woman who is unclean.

The Great Day of Forgiveness

16 ^1-2 (A) Two of Aaron's sons had already lost their lives for disobeying the Lord,^[b] so the Lord told Moses to say to Aaron:

I, the Lord, appear in a cloud over the place of mercy on the sacred chest, which is behind the inside curtain^[c] of the sacred tent. And I warn you not to go there except at the proper time. Otherwise, you will die!

^3 (B) Before entering this most holy place, you must offer a bull as a sacrifice for your sins^[d] and a ram as a sacrifice to please me.^{[e] 4} You will take a bath and put on the sacred linen clothes, including the underwear, the robe, the sash, and the turban. ⁵ Then the community of Israel will bring you a ram and two goats, both of them males. The goats are to be used as sacrifices for sin, and the ram is to be used as a sacrifice to please me.

⁶ Aaron, you must offer the bull as a sacrifice of forgiveness for your own sins and for the sins of your family. ⁷ Then you will lead the two goats into my presence at the front of the sacred tent, ⁸ where I will show you^[f] which goat will be sacrificed to me and which one will be sent into the desert to the demon Azazel.^{[g] 9} After you offer the first goat as a sacrifice for sin, ¹⁰ the other one must be presented to me alive, before you send it into the desert to take away the sins of the people.

¹¹ You must offer the bull as a sacrifice to ask forgiveness for your own sins and for the sins of your family. ¹² Then you will take a fire pan of live coals from the bronze altar, together with two handfuls of finely ground incense, into the most holy place. ¹³ There you will present them to me by placing the incense on the coals, so that the place of mercy will be covered with a cloud of smoke. Do this, or you will die right there! ¹⁴ Next, use a finger to sprinkle some of the blood on the place of mercy, which is on the lid of the sacred chest; then sprinkle blood seven times in front of the chest.

^15 (C) Aaron, you must next sacrifice the goat for the sins of the people, and you must sprinkle its blood inside the most holy place, just as you did with the blood of the bull. ¹⁶ By doing this, you will take away the sins that make both the most holy place and the people of Israel unclean. Do the same for the sacred tent, which is here among the people. ¹⁷ Only you are allowed in the sacred tent from the time you enter until the time you come out. ¹⁸ After leaving the tent, you will purify the bronze altar by smearing each of its four corners with some of the blood from the bull and from the goat. ¹⁹ Use a finger to sprinkle the altar seven times with the blood, and it will be completely clean from the sins of the people.

²⁰ After you have purified the most holy place, the sacred tent, and the bronze altar, you must bring the live goat to the front of the tent. ^21 (D) There you will lay your hands on its head, while confessing every sin the people have committed, and you will appoint someone to lead the goat into the desert, so that it can take away their sins. ²² Finally, this goat that carries the heavy burden of Israel's sins must be released deep in the desert.

^23-24 (E) Aaron, after this you must go inside the sacred tent, take a bath, put on your regular priestly clothes, and leave there the clothes you put on before entering the most holy place. Then you will come out and offer sacrifices to please me and sacrifices for your sins and for the sins of the people. ²⁵ The fat from these sacrifices for sin must be sent up in smoke on the bronze altar.

²⁶ The one who led the goat into the desert and sent it off to the demon Azazel must take a bath and wash his clothes before coming back into camp. ^27 (F) The remains of the bull and the goat whose blood was taken into the most holy place must be taken outside the camp and burned. ²⁸ And whoever does this must take a bath and change clothes before coming back into camp.

The Teaching of the Ancestors

(Matthew 15.1-9)

7 Some Pharisees and several teachers of the Law of Moses from Jerusalem came and gathered around Jesus. ² They noticed that some of his disciples ate without first washing their hands.^[a]

³ The Pharisees and many others obey the teachings of their ancestors. They always wash their hands in the proper way^[b] before eating. ⁴ None of them will eat anything they buy in the market until it is washed. They also follow a lot of other teachings, such as washing cups, pitchers, and bowls.^[c]

⁵ The Pharisees and teachers asked Jesus, “Why don't your disciples obey what our ancestors taught us to do? Why do they eat without washing their hands?”

^6 (A) Jesus replied:

You are nothing but show-offs! The prophet Isaiah was right when he wrote that God had said,

⁸ You disobey God's commands in order to obey what humans have taught. ⁹ You are good at rejecting God's commands so that you can follow your own teachings! ^10 (B) Didn't Moses command you to respect your father and mother? Didn't he tell you to put to death all who curse their parents? ¹¹ But you let people get by without helping their parents when they should. You let them say that what they own has been offered to God.^{[d] 12} You won't let those people help their parents. ¹³ And you ignore God's commands in order to follow your own teaching. You do a lot of other things just as bad.

What Really Makes People Unclean

(Matthew 15.10-20)

¹⁴ Jesus called the crowd together again and said, “Pay attention and try to understand what I mean. ^15-16 The food that you put into your mouth doesn't make you unclean and unfit to worship God. The bad words that come out of your mouth are what make you unclean.”^[e]

¹⁷ After Jesus and his disciples had left the crowd and gone into the house, they asked him what these sayings meant. ¹⁸ He answered, “Don't you know what I am talking about by now? You surely know that the food you put into your mouth cannot make you unclean. ¹⁹ It doesn't go into your heart, but into your stomach, and then out of your body.” By saying this, Jesus meant that all foods were fit to eat.

²⁰ Then Jesus said:

What comes from your heart is what makes you unclean. ²¹ Out of your heart come evil thoughts, vulgar deeds, stealing, murder, ²² unfaithfulness in marriage, greed, meanness, deceit, indecency, envy, insults, pride, and foolishness. ²³ All of these come from your heart, and they are what make you unfit to worship God.