You Shall Be Holy

^22 (A)“You shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my rules and do them, that the land where I am bringing you to live may not ^(B)vomit you out. ^23 (C)And you shall not walk in the customs of the nation that I am driving out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I detested them. ²⁴ But ^(D)I have said to you, ‘You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land ^(E)flowing with milk and honey.’ I am the Lord your God, ^(F)who has separated you from the peoples. ^25 (G)You shall therefore separate the clean beast from the unclean, and the unclean bird from the clean. You shall not make yourselves detestable by beast or by bird or by anything with which the ground crawls, which I have set apart for you to hold unclean. ^26 (H)You shall be holy to me, ^(I)for I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.

^27 (J)“A man or a woman who is a medium or a necromancer shall surely be put to death. They shall be ^(K)stoned with stones; ^(L)their blood shall be upon them.”

Holiness and the Priests

21 And the Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, ^(M)No one shall make himself unclean for the dead among his people, ² except for his closest relatives, his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother, ³ or his virgin sister (who is near to him because she has had no husband; for her he may make himself unclean). ⁴ He shall not make himself unclean as a husband among his people and so profane himself. ^5 (N)They shall not make bald patches on their heads, nor shave off the edges of their beards, nor make any cuts on their body. ⁶ They shall be holy to their God and ^(O)not profane the name of their God. For they offer the Lord's food offerings, ^(P)the bread of their God; therefore they shall be holy. ^7 (Q)They shall not marry a prostitute or a woman who has been defiled, neither shall they marry a woman ^(R)divorced from her husband, for the priest is holy to his God. ⁸ You shall sanctify him, for he offers the bread of your God. He shall be holy to you, for ^(S)I, the Lord, who sanctify you, ^(T)am holy. ⁹ And the daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by whoring, profanes her father; ^(U)she shall be burned with fire.

^10 (V)“The priest who is chief among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil is poured and who has been consecrated to wear the garments, ^(W)shall not let the hair of his head hang loose nor tear his clothes. ¹¹ He shall not ^(X)go in to any dead bodies nor make himself unclean, even for his father or for his mother. ^12 (Y)He shall not go out of the sanctuary, lest he ^(Z)profane the sanctuary of his God, for the ^(AA)consecration of the anointing oil of his God is on him: I am the Lord. ¹³ And he shall take a wife in her virginity.^{[a] 14} A widow, ^(AB)or a divorced woman, or a woman who has been defiled, or a prostitute, these he shall not marry. But he shall take as his wife a virgin^[b] of his own people, ¹⁵ that he may not profane his offspring among his people, for ^(AC)I am the Lord who sanctifies him.”

¹⁶ And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁷ “Speak to Aaron, saying, None of your offspring throughout their generations who has a blemish may ^(AD)approach to offer the bread of his God. ¹⁸ For no one who has a blemish shall draw near, a man ^(AE)blind or lame, or one who has a mutilated face ^(AF)or a limb too long, ¹⁹ or a man who has an injured foot or an injured hand, ²⁰ or a hunchback or a dwarf or a man with a ^(AG)defect in his sight or an itching disease or scabs or ^(AH)crushed testicles. ²¹ No man of the offspring of Aaron the priest who has a blemish shall come near to ^(AI)offer the Lord's food offerings; since he has a blemish, he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God. ²² He may eat the bread of his God, both of ^(AJ)the most holy and of the ^(AK)holy things, ²³ but he shall not go through the veil or approach the altar, because he has a blemish, that he may not ^(AL)profane my sanctuaries,^{[c] (AM)}for I am the Lord who sanctifies them.” ²⁴ So Moses spoke to Aaron and to his sons and to all the people of Israel.

22 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Speak to Aaron and his sons so that they ^(AN)abstain from the holy things of the people of Israel, which they ^(AO)dedicate to me, so that they do not ^(AP)profane my holy name: I am the Lord. ³ Say to them, ‘If any one of all your offspring throughout your generations approaches the holy things that the people of Israel dedicate to the Lord, while ^(AQ)he has an uncleanness, that person shall be cut off from my presence: I am the Lord. ⁴ None of the offspring of Aaron who has a leprous disease or a ^(AR)discharge may eat of the holy things ^(AS)until he is clean. ^(AT)Whoever touches anything that is unclean through contact with the dead or ^(AU)a man who has had an emission of semen, ⁵ and ^(AV)whoever touches a swarming thing by which he may be made unclean or ^(AW)a person from whom he may take uncleanness, whatever his uncleanness may be— ⁶ the person who touches such a thing shall be unclean until the evening and shall not eat of the holy things unless he has ^(AX)bathed his body in water. ⁷ When the sun goes down he shall be clean, and afterward he may eat of the holy things, because ^(AY)they are his food. ^8 (AZ)He shall not eat what dies of itself or is torn by beasts, and so make himself unclean by it: I am the Lord.’ ⁹ They shall therefore keep my charge, ^(BA)lest they bear sin for it and die thereby when they profane it: ^(BB)I am the Lord who sanctifies them.

^10 (BC)“A lay person shall not eat of a holy thing; no foreign guest of the priest or hired worker shall eat of a holy thing, ¹¹ but if a priest buys a slave^[d] as his property for money, the slave^[e] may eat of it, and ^(BD)anyone born in his house may eat of his food. ¹² If a priest's daughter marries a layman, she shall not eat of the contribution of the holy things. ¹³ But if a priest's daughter is widowed or divorced and has no child and ^(BE)returns to her father's house, ^(BF)as in her youth, she may eat of her father's food; yet no lay person shall eat of it. ^14 (BG)And if anyone eats of a holy thing unintentionally, he shall add ^(BH)the fifth of its value to it and give the holy thing to the priest. ¹⁵ They ^(BI)shall not profane the holy things of the people of Israel, which they contribute to the Lord, ¹⁶ and so cause them ^(BJ)to bear iniquity and guilt, by eating their holy things: ^(BK)for I am the Lord who sanctifies them.”

9 And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not ^(A)taste death ^(B)until they see the kingdom of God after it has come ^(C)with power.”

The Transfiguration

^2 (D)And after six days Jesus took with him ^(E)Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was ^(F)transfigured before them, ³ and ^(G)his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one^[a] on earth could bleach them. ⁴ And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. ⁵ And Peter said to Jesus, ^(H)“Rabbi,^[b] it is good that we are here. Let us make three ^(I)tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” ⁶ For ^(J)he did not know what to say, for they were terrified. ⁷ And ^(K)a cloud overshadowed them, and ^(L)a voice came out of the cloud, ^(M)“This is my beloved Son;^{[c] (N)}listen to him.” ⁸ And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only.

^9 (O)And as they were coming down the mountain, ^(P)he charged them to tell no one what they had seen, ^(Q)until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. ^10 (R)So they kept the matter to themselves, ^(S)questioning what this rising from the dead might mean. ¹¹ And they asked him, “Why do the scribes say ^(T)that first Elijah must come?” ¹² And he said to them, “Elijah does come first ^(U)to restore all things. And ^(V)how is it written of the Son of Man that he should ^(W)suffer many things and ^(X)be treated with contempt? ¹³ But I tell you that Elijah has come, and ^(Y)they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written of him.”

Jesus Heals a Boy with an Unclean Spirit

^14 (Z)And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. ¹⁵ And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, ^(AA)were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him. ¹⁶ And he asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?” ¹⁷ And someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has ^(AB)a spirit that makes him mute. ¹⁸ And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and ^(AC)they were not able.” ¹⁹ And he answered them, “O ^(AD)faithless generation, ^(AE)how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.” ²⁰ And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it ^(AF)convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. ²¹ And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. ²² And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But ^(AG)if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” ²³ And Jesus said to him, ^(AH)“‘If you can’! ^(AI)All things are possible for one who believes.” ²⁴ Immediately the father of the child cried out^[d] and said, “I believe; ^(AJ)help my unbelief!” ²⁵ And when Jesus saw that ^(AK)a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, ^(AL)“You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” ²⁶ And after crying out and ^(AM)convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.” ²⁷ But Jesus ^(AN)took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. ²⁸ And when he had ^(AO)entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” ²⁹ And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”^[e]

Send Out Your Light and Your Truth