Molech Worship and Spiritism

20 The Lord spoke to Moses: ² “Say to the Israelites: Any Israelite or alien residing in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech^(A) must be put to death; the people of the country are to stone him.^{(B) 3} I will turn^[a] against that man and cut him off from his people, because he gave his offspring to Molech, defiling my sanctuary^(C) and profaning my holy name.^{(D) 4} But if the people of the country look the other way when that man^[b] gives any of his children to Molech, and do not put him to death, ⁵ then I will turn against that man and his family, and cut off from their people both him and all who follow^[c] him in prostituting^(E) themselves with Molech.

⁶ “Whoever turns to mediums^[d](F) or spiritists^[e] and prostitutes himself with them, I will turn against that person and cut him off from his people. ⁷ Consecrate yourselves and be holy, for I am the Lord your God. ⁸ Keep my statutes and do them; I am the Lord who sets you apart.

Family and Sexual Offenses

⁹ “If anyone curses his father or mother, he must be put to death.^(G) He has cursed his father or mother; his death is his own fault.^[f]

¹⁰ “If a man commits adultery^(H) with a married woman—if he commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife—both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death. ¹¹ If a man sleeps with his father’s wife, he has violated the intimacy that belongs to his father.^[g](I) Both of them must be put to death; their death is their own fault.^{[h] 12} If a man sleeps with his daughter-in-law,^(J) both of them must be put to death. They have acted perversely; their death is their own fault. ¹³ If a man sleeps with a man as with a woman,^(K) they have both committed a detestable act.^(L) They must be put to death; their death is their own fault. ¹⁴ If a man marries^[i] a woman and her mother,^(M) it is depraved. Both he and they must be burned,^(N) so that there will be no depravity among you. ¹⁵ If a man has sexual intercourse with^[j] an animal, he must be put to death; you are also to kill the animal. ¹⁶ If a woman approaches any animal and mates with it, you are to kill the woman and the animal.^(O) They must be put to death; their death is their own fault. ¹⁷ If a man marries his sister,^(P) whether his father’s daughter or his mother’s daughter, and they have sexual relations,^[k](Q) it is a disgrace.^(R) They are to be cut off publicly from their people. He has had sexual intercourse with his sister; he will bear his iniquity. ¹⁸ If a man sleeps with a menstruating woman and has sexual intercourse with her, he has exposed the source of her flow, and she has uncovered the source of her blood.^(S) Both of them are to be cut off from their people. ¹⁹ You must not have sexual intercourse with your mother’s sister or your father’s sister,^(T) for it is exposing one’s own blood relative; both people will bear their iniquity. ²⁰ If a man sleeps with his aunt, he has violated the intimacy that belongs to his uncle;^[l](U) they will bear their guilt and die childless. ²¹ If a man marries his brother’s wife, it is impurity.^(V) He has violated the intimacy that belongs to his brother;^[m](W) they will be childless.

Holiness in the Land

²² “You are to keep all my statutes and all my ordinances, and do them, so that the land where I am bringing you to live will not vomit you out.^{(X) 23} You must not follow the statutes of the nations I am driving out before you, for they did all these things, and I abhorred them.^{(Y) 24} And I promised you: You will inherit their land, since I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey.^(Z) I am the Lord your God who set you apart from the peoples. ²⁵ Therefore you are to distinguish the clean animal from the unclean one, and the unclean bird from the clean one. Do not become contaminated^(AA) by any land animal, bird, or whatever crawls on the ground; I have set these apart as unclean for you.^{(AB) 26} You are to be holy to me because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be mine.^(AC)

²⁷ “A man or a woman who is^[n] a medium or a spiritist must be put to death. They are to be stoned; their death is their own fault.”

The Holiness of the Priests

21 The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to Aaron’s sons, the priests, and tell them: A priest is not to make himself ceremonially unclean for a dead person among his relatives,^{(AD) 2} except for his immediate family: his mother, father, son, daughter, or brother. ³ He may make himself unclean for his unmarried virgin sister in his immediate family. ⁴ He is not to make himself unclean for those related to him by marriage^[o] and so defile himself.

⁵ “Priests may not make bald spots on their heads, shave the edge of their beards, or make gashes on their bodies.^{(AE) 6} They are to be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God.^(AF) For they present the food offerings to the Lord, the food of their God, and they must be holy. ⁷ They are not to marry a woman defiled by prostitution.^[p](AG) They are not to marry one divorced^(AH) by her husband, for the priest is holy to his God. ⁸ You are to consider him holy since he presents the food of your God. He will be holy to you because I, the Lord who sets you apart, am holy. ⁹ If a priest’s daughter defiles herself by promiscuity,^[q](AI) she defiles her father; she must be burned to death.^(AJ)

¹⁰ “The priest who is highest among his brothers, who has had the anointing oil poured on his head and has been ordained^[r] to wear the clothes, must not dishevel his hair^[s] or tear his clothes.^{(AK) 11} He must not go near any dead person or make himself unclean even for his father or mother.^{(AL) 12} He must not leave the sanctuary or he will desecrate the sanctuary of his God, for the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is on him;^(AM) I am the Lord.

¹³ “He is to marry a woman who is a virgin. ¹⁴ He is not to marry a widow,^(AN) a divorced woman,^(AO) or one defiled by prostitution. He is to marry a virgin from his own people, ¹⁵ so that he does not corrupt his bloodline^[t] among his people, for I am the Lord who sets him apart.”

Physical Defects and Priests

¹⁶ The Lord spoke to Moses: ¹⁷ “Tell Aaron: None of your descendants throughout your generations who has a physical defect^(AP) is to come near to present the food^(AQ) of his God. ¹⁸ No man who has any defect is to come near: no man who is blind, lame, facially disfigured, or deformed; ¹⁹ no man who has a broken foot or hand, ²⁰ or who is a hunchback or a dwarf,^[u](AR) or who has an eye defect, a festering rash, scabs,^(AS) or a crushed testicle.^{(AT) 21} No descendant of the priest Aaron who has a defect is to come near to present the food offerings to the Lord. He has a defect and is not to come near to present the food of his God. ²² He may eat the food of his God from what is especially holy as well as from what is holy. ²³ But because he has a defect, he must not go near the curtain^(AU) or approach the altar. He is not to desecrate my holy places, for I am the Lord who sets them apart.”^{(AV) 24} Moses said this to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites.

The Son of Man Forgives and Heals

2 When^(A) he entered Capernaum^(B) again after some days, it was reported that he was at home. ² So many people gathered together that there was no more room, not even in the doorway, and he was speaking the word^(C) to them. ³ They came to him bringing a paralytic,^(D) carried by four of them. ⁴ Since they were not able to bring him to^[a] Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and after digging through it, they lowered the mat on which the paralytic was lying. ⁵ Seeing their faith,^(E) Jesus told the paralytic, “Son, your sins^(F) are forgiven.”^(G)

⁶ But some of the scribes^(H) were sitting there, questioning^(I) in their hearts: ⁷ “Why does he speak like this? He’s blaspheming!^(J) Who can forgive^(K) sins^(L) but God alone?” ^(M)

⁸ Right away^(N) Jesus perceived in his spirit^(O) that they were thinking like this within themselves and said to them, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? ⁹ Which is easier:^(P) to say to the paralytic,^(Q) ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat, and walk’?^{(R) 10} But so that you may know that the Son of Man^(S) has authority^(T) on earth to forgive sins”^(U)—he told the paralytic— ¹¹ “I tell you: get up,^(V) take your mat, and go home.”

¹² Immediately he got up, took the mat, and went out in front of everyone. As a result, they were all astounded^(W) and gave glory^(X) to God,^(Y) saying, “We have never seen anything like this!” ^(Z)

The Call of Levi

¹³ Jesus^(AA) went out again beside the sea. The whole crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching^(AB) them. ¹⁴ Then, passing by, he saw Levi^(AC) the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office,^(AD) and he said to him, “Follow me,”^(AE) and he got up and followed^(AF) him.

¹⁵ While he was reclining at the table in Levi’s house, many tax collectors^(AG) and sinners^(AH) were eating^[b] with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who were following him. ¹⁶ When the scribes^(AI) who were Pharisees^[c](AJ) saw that he was eating^(AK) with sinners^(AL) and tax collectors,^(AM) they asked his disciples, “Why does he eat^[d] with tax collectors and sinners?”

¹⁷ When Jesus heard this, he told them, “It is not those who are well who need^(AN) a doctor,^(AO) but those who are sick.^(AP) I didn’t come to call the righteous,^(AQ) but sinners.”^(AR)

A Question about Fasting

¹⁸ Now^(AS) John’s^(AT) disciples^(AU) and the Pharisees^[e](AV) were fasting.^(AW) People came and asked him, “Why do John’s disciples and the Pharisees’ disciples fast, but your disciples do not fast?”

¹⁹ Jesus said to them, “The wedding guests cannot fast while the groom^(AX) is with them, can they? As long as they have the groom with them, they cannot fast. ²⁰ But the time^[f] will come^(AY) when the groom will be taken away from them,^(AZ) and then they will fast^(BA) on that day. ²¹ No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Otherwise, the new patch pulls away from the old cloth,^(BB) and a worse tear is made. ²² And no one puts new wine^(BC) into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst^(BD) the skins, and the wine is lost as well as the skins. No, new wine is put into fresh wineskins.”

Lord of the Sabbath

²³ On^(BE) the Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and his disciples^(BF) began to make their way, picking some heads of grain. ²⁴ The Pharisees^(BG) said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful^(BH) on the Sabbath?”

²⁵ He said to them, “Have you never read what David^(BI) and those who were with him did when he was in need^(BJ) and hungry^(BK) — ²⁶ how he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar^(BL) the high priest^(BM) and ate the bread of the Presence^(BN) —which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests^(BO) —and also gave some to his companions?” ²⁷ Then he told them, “The Sabbath was made for^[g] man and not man for the Sabbath.^{(BP) 28} So then, the Son of Man^(BQ) is Lord^(BR) even of the Sabbath.”^(BS)