Ephraim’s Sins Rebuked by God

The Passover and Unleavened Bread^(A)

^4 (B)‘These are the feasts of the Lord, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at their appointed times. ^5 (C)On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the Lord’s Passover. ⁶ And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; seven days you must eat unleavened bread. ^7 (D)On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no ^[a]customary work on it. ⁸ But you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord for seven days. The seventh day shall be a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it.’ ”

The Passover Instituted^(A)

12 Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, ^2 (B)“This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. ³ Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: ‘On the ^(C)tenth of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. ⁴ And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the persons; according to each man’s need you shall make your count for the lamb. ⁵ Your lamb shall be ^(D)without^[a] blemish, a male ^[b]of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. ⁶ Now you shall keep it until the ^(E)fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. ⁷ And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it. ⁸ Then they shall eat the flesh on that ^(F)night; ^(G)roasted in fire, with ^(H)unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. ⁹ Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but ^(I)roasted in fire—its head with its legs and its entrails. ^10 (J)You shall let none of it remain until morning, and what remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire. ¹¹ And thus you shall eat it: ^[c]with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. ^(K)It is the Lord’s Passover.

¹² ‘For I ^(L)will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and ^(M)against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: ^(N)I am the Lord. ¹³ Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

¹⁴ ‘So this day shall be to you ^(O)a memorial; and you shall keep it as a ^(P)feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast ^(Q)by an everlasting ordinance. ^15 (R)Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, ^(S)that ^[d]person shall be ^[e]cut off from Israel. ¹⁶ On the first day there shall be ^(T)a holy convocation, and on the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation for you. No manner of work shall be done on them; but that which everyone must eat—that only may be prepared by you. ¹⁷ So you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for ^(U)on this same day I will have brought your ^[f]armies ^(V)out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as an everlasting ordinance.

Abraham’s Faith Confirmed^(A)

22 Now it came to pass after these things that ^(B)God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!”

And he said, “Here I am.”

² Then He said, “Take now your son, ^(C)your only son Isaac, whom you ^(D)love, and go ^(E)to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a ^(F)burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”

³ So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. ⁴ Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. ⁵ And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the ^[a]lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will ^(G)come back to you.”

⁶ So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and ^(H)laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together. ⁷ But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!”

And he said, “Here I am, my son.”

Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the ^[b]lamb for a burnt offering?”

⁸ And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the ^(I)lamb for a ^(J)burnt offering.” So the two of them went together.

⁹ Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and ^(K)laid him on the altar, upon the wood. ¹⁰ And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.

¹¹ But the ^(L)Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”

So he said, “Here I am.”

¹² And He said, ^(M)“Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for ^(N)now I know that you fear God, since you have not ^(O)withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”

¹³ Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. ¹⁴ And Abraham called the name of the place, ^[c]The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”

¹⁵ Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, ¹⁶ and said: ^(P)“By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son— ¹⁷ blessing I will ^(Q)bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants ^(R)as the stars of the heaven ^(S)and as the sand which is on the seashore; and ^(T)your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.

Immorality Defiles the Church

5 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even ^[a]named among the Gentiles—that a man has his father’s ^(A)wife! ^2 (B)And you are ^[b]puffed up, and have not rather ^(C)mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you. ^3 (D)For I indeed, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged (as though I were present) him who has so done this deed. ⁴ In the ^(E)name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, ^(F)with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, ^5 (G)deliver such a one to ^(H)Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord ^[c]Jesus.

^6 (I)Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that ^(J)a little leaven leavens the whole lump? ⁷ Therefore ^[d]purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed ^(K)Christ, our ^(L)Passover, was sacrificed ^[e]for us. ⁸ Therefore ^(M)let us keep the feast, ^(N)not with old leaven, nor ^(O)with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.