Punishment for Child Sacrifice

20 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Say to the people of Israel, ^(A)Any one of the people of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him with stones. ^3 (B)I myself will set my face against that man and will cut him off from among his people, because he has given one of his children to Molech, to make my sanctuary ^(C)unclean and ^(D)to profane my holy name. ⁴ And if the people of the land do at all close their eyes to that man when he gives one of his children to Molech, and do not ^(E)put him to death, ⁵ then I will set my face against that man and against his clan and will cut them off from among their people, him and all who follow him in ^(F)whoring after Molech.

⁶ “If ^(G)a person turns to mediums and necromancers, whoring after them, ^(H)I will set my face against that person and will cut him off from among his people. ^7 (I)Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am the Lord your God. ^8 (J)Keep my statutes and do them; ^(K)I am the Lord who sanctifies you. ⁹ For ^(L)anyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death; he has cursed his father or his mother; ^(M)his blood is upon him.

Punishments for Sexual Immorality

¹⁰ “If a ^(N)man commits adultery with the wife of^[a] his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. ^11 (O)If a man lies with his father's wife, he has uncovered his father's nakedness; both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them. ^12 (P)If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall surely be put to death; they have committed ^(Q)perversion; their blood is upon them. ^13 (R)If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them. ^14 (S)If a man takes a woman and her mother also, it is depravity; he and they shall be burned with fire, that there may be no depravity among you. ^15 (T)If a man lies with an animal, he shall surely be put to death, and you shall kill the animal. ^16 (U)If a woman approaches any animal and lies with it, you shall kill the woman and the animal; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.

^17 (V)“If a man takes his sister, a daughter of his father or a daughter of his mother, and sees her nakedness, and she sees his nakedness, it is a disgrace, and they shall be cut off in the sight of the children of their people. He has uncovered his sister's nakedness, and he shall bear his iniquity. ^18 (W)If a man lies with a woman during her menstrual period and uncovers her nakedness, he has made naked her fountain, and she has uncovered the fountain of her blood. Both of them shall be cut off from among their people. ^19 (X)You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother's sister or of your father's sister, for that is to make naked ^(Y)one's relative; they shall bear their iniquity. ^20 (Z)If a man lies with his uncle's wife, he has uncovered his uncle's nakedness; they shall bear their sin; they shall die childless. ^21 (AA)If a man takes his brother's wife, it is impurity.^[b] He has uncovered his brother's nakedness; they shall be childless.

You Shall Be Holy

^22 (AB)“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 ^(AC)vomit you out. ^23 (AD)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 ^(AE)I have said to you, ‘You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land ^(AF)flowing with milk and honey.’ I am the Lord your God, ^(AG)who has separated you from the peoples. ^25 (AH)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 (AI)You shall be holy to me, ^(AJ)for I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.

^27 (AK)“A man or a woman who is a medium or a necromancer shall surely be put to death. They shall be ^(AL)stoned with stones; ^(AM)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, ^(AN)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 (AO)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 ^(AP)not profane the name of their God. For they offer the Lord's food offerings, ^(AQ)the bread of their God; therefore they shall be holy. ^7 (AR)They shall not marry a prostitute or a woman who has been defiled, neither shall they marry a woman ^(AS)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 ^(AT)I, the Lord, who sanctify you, ^(AU)am holy. ⁹ And the daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by whoring, profanes her father; ^(AV)she shall be burned with fire.

^10 (AW)“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, ^(AX)shall not let the hair of his head hang loose nor tear his clothes. ¹¹ He shall not ^(AY)go in to any dead bodies nor make himself unclean, even for his father or for his mother. ^12 (AZ)He shall not go out of the sanctuary, lest he ^(BA)profane the sanctuary of his God, for the ^(BB)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.^{[c] 14} A widow, ^(BC)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^[d] of his own people, ¹⁵ that he may not profane his offspring among his people, for ^(BD)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 ^(BE)approach to offer the bread of his God. ¹⁸ For no one who has a blemish shall draw near, a man ^(BF)blind or lame, or one who has a mutilated face ^(BG)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 ^(BH)defect in his sight or an itching disease or scabs or ^(BI)crushed testicles. ²¹ No man of the offspring of Aaron the priest who has a blemish shall come near to ^(BJ)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 ^(BK)the most holy and of the ^(BL)holy things, ²³ but he shall not go through the veil or approach the altar, because he has a blemish, that he may not ^(BM)profane my sanctuaries,^{[e] (BN)}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 ^(BO)abstain from the holy things of the people of Israel, which they ^(BP)dedicate to me, so that they do not ^(BQ)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 ^(BR)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 ^(BS)discharge may eat of the holy things ^(BT)until he is clean. ^(BU)Whoever touches anything that is unclean through contact with the dead or ^(BV)a man who has had an emission of semen, ⁵ and ^(BW)whoever touches a swarming thing by which he may be made unclean or ^(BX)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 ^(BY)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 ^(BZ)they are his food. ^8 (CA)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, ^(CB)lest they bear sin for it and die thereby when they profane it: ^(CC)I am the Lord who sanctifies them.

^10 (CD)“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^[f] as his property for money, the slave^[g] may eat of it, and ^(CE)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 ^(CF)returns to her father's house, ^(CG)as in her youth, she may eat of her father's food; yet no lay person shall eat of it. ^14 (CH)And if anyone eats of a holy thing unintentionally, he shall add ^(CI)the fifth of its value to it and give the holy thing to the priest. ¹⁵ They ^(CJ)shall not profane the holy things of the people of Israel, which they contribute to the Lord, ¹⁶ and so cause them ^(CK)to bear iniquity and guilt, by eating their holy things: ^(CL)for I am the Lord who sanctifies them.”

Acceptable Offerings

¹⁷ And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁸ “Speak to Aaron and his sons and all the people of Israel and say to them, ^(CM)When any one of the house of Israel or of the sojourners in Israel presents a burnt offering as his offering, for any of their vows or freewill offerings that they offer to the Lord, ¹⁹ if it is to be accepted for you it shall be a ^(CN)male without blemish, of the bulls or the sheep or the goats. ^20 (CO)You shall not offer anything that has a blemish, for it will not be acceptable for you. ²¹ And when anyone ^(CP)offers a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord ^(CQ)to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering from the herd or from the flock, to be accepted it must be perfect; there shall be no blemish in it. ²² Animals ^(CR)blind or disabled or mutilated or having a discharge or ^(CS)an itch or scabs you shall not offer to the Lord or give them to the Lord as a food ^(CT)offering on the altar. ²³ You may present a bull or a lamb that has a part ^(CU)too long or too short for a freewill offering, but for a vow offering it cannot be accepted. ²⁴ Any animal that has its testicles bruised or crushed or torn or cut you shall not offer to the Lord; you shall not do it within your land, ²⁵ neither shall you offer as ^(CV)the bread of your God any such animals gotten from a foreigner. Since there is a ^(CW)blemish in them, because of their mutilation, they will not be accepted for you.”

²⁶ And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ^27 (CX)“When an ox or sheep or goat is born, it shall remain seven days with its mother, and from the eighth day on it shall be acceptable as a food offering to the Lord. ²⁸ But you shall not kill an ox or a sheep ^(CY)and her young in one day. ²⁹ And when you sacrifice a ^(CZ)sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Lord, you shall sacrifice it so that you may be accepted. ³⁰ It shall be eaten on the same day; ^(DA)you shall leave none of it until morning: I am the Lord.

^31 (DB)“So you shall keep my commandments and do them: I am the Lord. ^32 (DC)And you shall not profane my holy name, that ^(DD)I may be sanctified among the people of Israel. ^(DE)I am the Lord who sanctifies you, ³³ who brought you out of the land of Egypt ^(DF)to be your God: I am the Lord.”

Paul in Macedonia and Greece

20 After the uproar ceased, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging them, he said farewell and ^(A)departed for Macedonia. ² When he had gone through those regions and had given them much encouragement, he came to Greece. ³ There he spent three months, and when ^(B)a plot was made against him by the Jews^[a] as he was about to set sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia. ⁴ Sopater the Berean, son of Pyrrhus, accompanied him; and of the Thessalonians, ^(C)Aristarchus and Secundus; and ^(D)Gaius of Derbe, and ^(E)Timothy; and the Asians, ^(F)Tychicus and ^(G)Trophimus. ⁵ These went on ahead and were waiting for ^(H)us at ^(I)Troas, ⁶ but we sailed away from Philippi after ^(J)the days of Unleavened Bread, and in five days we came to them at Troas, where we stayed for seven days.

Eutychus Raised from the Dead

^7 (K)On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together ^(L)to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight. ⁸ There were many lamps in ^(M)the upper room where we were gathered. ⁹ And a young man named Eutychus, sitting at the window, sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer. And being overcome by sleep, he ^(N)fell down from the third story and was taken up dead. ¹⁰ But Paul went down and ^(O)bent over him, and taking him in his arms, said, ^(P)“Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.” ¹¹ And when Paul had gone up and ^(Q)had broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while, until daybreak, and so departed. ¹² And they took the youth away alive, and were not a little comforted.

¹³ But going ahead to the ship, we set sail for Assos, intending to take Paul aboard there, for so he had arranged, intending himself to go by land. ¹⁴ And when he met us at Assos, we took him on board and went to Mitylene. ¹⁵ And sailing from there we came the following day opposite Chios; the next day we touched at Samos; and^[b] the day after that we went to Miletus. ¹⁶ For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus, so that he might not have to spend time in Asia, for he was hastening ^(R)to be at Jerusalem, if possible, ^(S)on the day of Pentecost.

Paul Speaks to the Ephesian Elders

¹⁷ Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called ^(T)the elders of the church to come to him. ¹⁸ And when they came to him, he said to them:

^(U)“You yourselves know ^(V)how I lived among you the whole time ^(W)from the first day that I set foot in Asia, ^19 (X)serving the Lord ^(Y)with all humility and with ^(Z)tears and with trials that happened to me through ^(AA)the plots of the Jews; ²⁰ how I ^(AB)did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and ^(AC)teaching you in public and from house to house, ^21 (AD)testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of ^(AE)repentance toward God and of ^(AF)faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.^{[c] 22} And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained ^(AG)by^[d] the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, ²³ except that ^(AH)the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that ^(AI)imprisonment and ^(AJ)afflictions await me. ²⁴ But ^(AK)I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only ^(AL)I may finish my course and ^(AM)the ministry ^(AN)that I received from the Lord Jesus, ^(AO)to testify to ^(AP)the gospel of ^(AQ)the grace of God. ²⁵ And now, behold, ^(AR)I know that none of you among whom I have gone about ^(AS)proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again. ²⁶ Therefore ^(AT)I testify to you this day that ^(AU)I am innocent of the blood of all, ²⁷ for ^(AV)I did not shrink from declaring to you ^(AW)the whole counsel of God. ^28 (AX)Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all ^(AY)the flock, in which ^(AZ)the Holy Spirit has made you ^(BA)overseers, ^(BB)to care for ^(BC)the church of God,^[e] which he ^(BD)obtained ^(BE)with his own blood.^{[f] 29} I ^(BF)know that after my departure ^(BG)fierce wolves will come in among you, ^(BH)not sparing the flock; ³⁰ and ^(BI)from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. ³¹ Therefore ^(BJ)be alert, remembering that ^(BK)for three years I did not cease night or day ^(BL)to admonish every one ^(BM)with tears. ³² And now ^(BN)I commend you to God and to ^(BO)the word of his grace, which is able to ^(BP)build you up and to give you ^(BQ)the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. ^33 (BR)I coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. ^34 (BS)You yourselves know that ^(BT)these hands ministered to my necessities and ^(BU)to those who were with me. ³⁵ In all things ^(BV)I have shown you that ^(BW)by working hard in this way we must ^(BX)help the weak and ^(BY)remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed ^(BZ)to give than to receive.’”

³⁶ And when he had said these things, ^(CA)he knelt down and prayed with them all. ³⁷ And ^(CB)there was much weeping on the part of all; ^(CC)they embraced Paul and ^(CD)kissed him, ³⁸ being sorrowful most of all because of ^(CE)the word he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. And ^(CF)they accompanied him to the ship.