The Death of Nadab and Abihu

10 Now ^(A)Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, ^(B)each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered ^(C)unauthorized^[a] fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them. ² And fire ^(D)came out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. ³ Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Among ^(E)those who are near me ^(F)I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.’” ^(G)And Aaron held his peace.

⁴ And Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of ^(H)Uzziel the uncle of Aaron, and said to them, “Come near; carry your brothers away from the front of the sanctuary and out of the camp.” ⁵ So they came near and carried them in their coats out of the camp, as Moses had said. ⁶ And Moses said to Aaron and to Eleazar and Ithamar his sons, ^(I)“Do not let the hair of your heads hang loose, and do not tear your clothes, lest you die, and ^(J)wrath come upon all the congregation; but let your brothers, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning that the Lord has kindled. ^7 (K)And do not go outside the entrance of the tent of meeting, lest you die, ^(L)for the anointing oil of the Lord is upon you.” And they did according to the word of Moses.

⁸ And the Lord spoke to Aaron, saying, ^9 (M)“Drink no wine or strong drink, you or your sons with you, when you go into the tent of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations. ¹⁰ You are to ^(N)distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean, ¹¹ and ^(O)you are to teach the people of Israel all the statutes that the Lord has spoken to them by Moses.”

¹² Moses spoke to Aaron and to Eleazar and Ithamar, his surviving sons: “Take the ^(P)grain offering that is left of the Lord's food offerings, and eat it unleavened beside the altar, for ^(Q)it is most holy. ¹³ You shall eat it in a holy place, because it is your due and your sons' due, from the Lord's food offerings, for ^(R)so I am commanded. ¹⁴ But the ^(S)breast that is waved and the thigh that is contributed you shall eat in a clean place, you and your sons and your daughters with you, for they are given as your due and your sons' due from the sacrifices of the peace offerings of the people of Israel. ^15 (T)The thigh that is contributed and the breast that is waved they shall bring with the food offerings of the fat pieces to wave for a wave offering before the Lord, and it shall be yours and your sons' with you as a due forever, as the Lord has commanded.”

¹⁶ Now Moses diligently inquired about ^(U)the goat of the sin offering, and behold, it was burned up! And he was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, the surviving sons of Aaron, saying, ^17 (V)“Why have you not eaten the sin offering in the place of the sanctuary, since ^(W)it is a thing most holy and has been given to you that you may bear the iniquity of the congregation, to make atonement for them before the Lord? ¹⁸ Behold, ^(X)its blood was not brought into the inner part of the sanctuary. You certainly ought to have eaten it in the sanctuary, ^(Y)as I commanded.” ¹⁹ And Aaron said to Moses, “Behold, ^(Z)today they have offered their sin offering and their burnt offering before the Lord, and yet such things as these have happened to me! If I had eaten the sin offering today, ^(AA)would the Lord have approved?” ²⁰ And when Moses heard that, he approved.

Clean and Unclean Animals

11 And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying to them, ² “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, ^(AB)These are the living things that you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth. ³ Whatever parts the hoof and is cloven-footed and chews the cud, among the animals, you may eat. ⁴ Nevertheless, among those that chew the cud or part the hoof, you shall not eat these: The camel, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you. ⁵ And the ^(AC)rock badger, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you. ⁶ And the hare, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you. ⁷ And the pig, because it parts the hoof and is cloven-footed but does not chew the cud, ^(AD)is unclean to you. ⁸ You shall not eat any of their flesh, and you shall not touch their carcasses; they are unclean to you.

⁹ “These you may eat, of all that are in the waters. Everything in the waters that has fins and scales, whether in the seas or in the rivers, you may eat. ¹⁰ But anything in the seas or the rivers that does not have fins and scales, of the swarming creatures in the waters and of the living creatures that are in the waters, is ^(AE)detestable to you. ¹¹ You shall regard them as detestable; you shall not eat any of their flesh, and you shall detest their carcasses. ¹² Everything in the waters that does not have fins and scales is detestable to you.

¹³ “And these you shall detest among the birds;^[b] they shall not be eaten; they are ^(AF)detestable: ^(AG)the eagle,^[c] the bearded vulture, the black vulture, ¹⁴ the kite, ^(AH)the falcon of any kind, ¹⁵ every raven of any kind, ¹⁶ the ostrich, the nighthawk, the sea gull, the ^(AI)hawk of any kind, ¹⁷ the ^(AJ)little owl, the cormorant, the ^(AK)short-eared owl, ¹⁸ the barn owl, the ^(AL)tawny owl, the carrion vulture, ¹⁹ the stork, the heron of any kind, the hoopoe, and ^(AM)the bat.

²⁰ “All winged insects that go on all fours are detestable to you. ²¹ Yet among the winged insects that go on all fours you may eat those that have jointed legs above their feet, with which to hop on the ground. ²² Of them you may eat: ^(AN)the locust of any kind, the bald locust of any kind, the cricket of any kind, and the grasshopper of any kind. ²³ But all other winged insects that have four feet are detestable to you.

²⁴ “And by these you shall become unclean. Whoever touches their carcass shall be unclean until the evening, ²⁵ and whoever carries any part of their carcass ^(AO)shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening. ²⁶ Every animal that parts the hoof but is not cloven-footed or does not chew the cud is unclean to you. Everyone who touches them shall be unclean. ²⁷ And all that walk on their paws, among the animals that go on all fours, are unclean to you. Whoever touches their carcass shall be unclean until the evening, ²⁸ and he who carries their carcass ^(AP)shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening; they are unclean to you.

²⁹ “And these are unclean to you among the swarming things that swarm on the ground: the mole rat, ^(AQ)the mouse, the great lizard of any kind, ³⁰ the gecko, the monitor lizard, the lizard, the sand lizard, and the chameleon. ³¹ These are unclean to you among all that swarm. Whoever touches them when they are dead shall be unclean until the evening. ³² And anything on which any of them falls when they are dead shall be unclean, whether it is an article of wood or a garment or a skin or a sack, any article that is used for any purpose. ^(AR)It must be put into water, and it shall be unclean until the evening; then it shall be clean. ³³ And if any of them falls into any earthenware vessel, all that is in it shall be unclean, and you ^(AS)shall break it. ³⁴ Any food in it that could be eaten, on which water comes, shall be unclean. And all drink that could be drunk from every such vessel shall be unclean. ³⁵ And everything on which any part of their carcass falls shall be unclean. Whether oven or stove, it shall be broken in pieces. They are unclean and shall remain unclean for you. ³⁶ Nevertheless, a spring or a cistern holding water shall be clean, but whoever touches a carcass in them shall be unclean. ³⁷ And if any part of their carcass falls upon any seed grain that is to be sown, it is clean, ³⁸ but if water is put on the seed and any part of their carcass falls on it, it is unclean to you.

³⁹ “And if any animal which you may eat dies, whoever touches its carcass shall be unclean until the evening, ⁴⁰ and ^(AT)whoever eats of its carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening. And whoever carries the carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening.

^41 (AU)“Every swarming thing that swarms on the ground is detestable; it shall not be eaten. ⁴² Whatever goes on its belly, and whatever goes on all fours, or whatever has many feet, any swarming thing that swarms on the ground, you shall not eat, for they are detestable. ^43 (AV)You shall not make yourselves detestable with any swarming thing that swarms, and you shall not defile yourselves with them, and become unclean through them. ⁴⁴ For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and ^(AW)be holy, for I am holy. ^(AX)You shall not defile yourselves with any swarming thing that crawls on the ground. ^45 (AY)For I am the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. ^(AZ)You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.”

⁴⁶ This is the law about beast and bird and every living creature that moves through the waters and every creature that swarms on the ground, ^47 (BA)to make a distinction between the unclean and the clean and between the living creature that may be eaten and the living creature that may not be eaten.

The Crowd Chooses Barabbas

^15 (A)Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to release for the crowd any one prisoner whom they wanted. ¹⁶ And they had then a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. ¹⁷ So when they had gathered, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release for you: Barabbas, or ^(B)Jesus who is called Christ?” ¹⁸ For he knew that it was out ^(C)of envy that they had delivered him up. ¹⁹ Besides, while he was sitting on ^(D)the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, “Have nothing to do with ^(E)that righteous man, for I have suffered much because of him today ^(F)in a dream.” ²⁰ Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ^(G)ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. ²¹ The governor again said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas.” ²² Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” ^(H)They all said, “Let him be crucified!” ²³ And he said, “Why? ^(I)What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Let him be crucified!”

Pilate Delivers Jesus to Be Crucified

²⁴ So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that ^(J)a riot was beginning, he took water and ^(K)washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of ^(L)this man's blood;^{[a] (M)}see to it yourselves.” ²⁵ And all the people answered, ^(N)“His blood be on us and ^(O)on our children!” ²⁶ Then he released for them Barabbas, and having ^(P)scourged^[b] Jesus, delivered him to be crucified.

Jesus Is Mocked

^27 (Q)Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the ^(R)governor's headquarters,^[c] and they gathered the whole ^(S)battalion^[d] before him. ²⁸ And they stripped him and put ^(T)a scarlet robe on him, ²⁹ and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they ^(U)mocked him, saying, “Hail, ^(V)King of the Jews!” ³⁰ And ^(W)they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head. ³¹ And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and ^(X)led him away to crucify him.

The Crucifixion

^32 (Y)(Z)As they went out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. They compelled this man to ^(AA)carry his cross. ^33 (AB)And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull), ^34 (AC)they offered him wine to drink, mixed with ^(AD)gall, but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. ³⁵ And when they had crucified him, ^(AE)they divided his garments among them by casting lots. ³⁶ Then they sat down and ^(AF)kept watch over him there. ³⁷ And over his head they put the charge against him, which read, “This is Jesus, ^(AG)the King of the Jews.” ³⁸ Then two ^(AH)robbers were crucified with him, ^(AI)one on the right and one on the left. ³⁹ And ^(AJ)those who passed by ^(AK)derided him, ^(AL)wagging their heads ⁴⁰ and saying, ^(AM)“You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! ^(AN)If you are ^(AO)the Son of God, come down from the cross.” ⁴¹ So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, ^42 (AP)“He saved others; ^(AQ)he cannot save himself. ^(AR)He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. ^43 (AS)He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” ^44 (AT)And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way.

The King of Glory

A Psalm of David.