Leviticus 21

New International Version

Rules for Priests

21 The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron,^(A) and say to them: ‘A priest must not make himself ceremonially unclean^(B) for any of his people who die,^(C) ²except for a close relative, such as his mother or father,^(D) his son or daughter, his brother, ³or an unmarried sister who is dependent on him since she has no husband—for her he may make himself unclean.^(E) ⁴He must not make himself unclean for people related to him by marriage,^[a] and so defile himself.

⁵“‘Priests must not shave^(F) their heads or shave off the edges of their beards^(G) or cut their bodies.^(H) ⁶They must be holy to their God^(I) and must not profane the name of their God.^(J) Because they present the food offerings to the Lord,^(K) the food of their God,^(L) they are to be holy.^(M)

⁷“‘They must not marry women defiled by prostitution or divorced from their husbands,^(N) because priests are holy to their God.^(O) ⁸Regard them as holy,^(P) because they offer up the food of your God.^(Q) Consider them holy, because I the Lord am holy—I who make you holy.^(R)

⁹“‘If a priest’s daughter defiles herself by becoming a prostitute, she disgraces her father; she must be burned in the fire.^(S)

¹⁰“‘The high priest, the one among his brothers who has had the anointing oil poured on his head^(T) and who has been ordained to wear the priestly garments,^(U) must not let his hair become unkempt^[b] or tear his clothes.^(V) ¹¹He must not enter a place where there is a dead body.^(W) He must not make himself unclean,^(X) even for his father or mother,^(Y) ¹²nor leave the sanctuary^(Z) of his God or desecrate it, because he has been dedicated by the anointing oil^(AA) of his God. I am the Lord.

¹³“‘The woman he marries must be a virgin.^(AB) ¹⁴He must not marry a widow, a divorced woman, or a woman defiled by prostitution, but only a virgin from his own people, ¹⁵so that he will not defile his offspring among his people. I am the Lord, who makes him holy.’”

¹⁶The Lord said to Moses, ¹⁷“Say to Aaron: ‘For the generations to come none of your descendants who has a defect^(AC) may come near to offer the food of his God.^(AD) ¹⁸No man who has any defect^(AE) may come near: no man who is blind^(AF) or lame,^(AG) disfigured or deformed; ¹⁹no man with a crippled foot or hand, ²⁰or who is a hunchback or a dwarf, or who has any eye defect, or who has festering or running sores or damaged testicles.^(AH) ²¹No descendant of Aaron the priest who has any defect^(AI) is to come near to present the food offerings to the Lord.^(AJ) He has a defect; he must not come near to offer the food of his God.^(AK) ²²He may eat the most holy food of his God,^(AL) as well as the holy food; ²³yet because of his defect,^(AM) he must not go near the curtain or approach the altar, and so desecrate my sanctuary.^(AN) I am the Lord, who makes them holy.^(AO)’”

²⁴So Moses told this to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites.

Footnotes

Leviticus 21:4 Or unclean as a leader among his people
Leviticus 21:10 Or not uncover his head

Isaiah 17-18

New International Version

A Prophecy Against Damascus

17 A prophecy^(A) against Damascus:^(B)

“See, Damascus will no longer be a city
    but will become a heap of ruins.^(C)
²The cities of Aroer^(D) will be deserted
    and left to flocks,^(E) which will lie down,^(F)
    with no one to make them afraid.^(G)
³The fortified^(H) city will disappear from Ephraim,
    and royal power from Damascus;
the remnant of Aram will be
    like the glory^(I) of the Israelites,”^(J)
declares the Lord Almighty.

⁴“In that day^(K) the glory^(L) of Jacob will fade;
    the fat of his body will waste^(M) away.
⁵It will be as when reapers harvest the standing grain,
    gathering^(N) the grain in their arms—
as when someone gleans heads of grain^(O)
    in the Valley of Rephaim.^(P)
⁶Yet some gleanings will remain,^(Q)
    as when an olive tree is beaten,^(R)
leaving two or three olives on the topmost branches,
    four or five on the fruitful boughs,”
declares the Lord, the God of Israel.

⁷In that day^(S) people will look^(T) to their Maker^(U)
    and turn their eyes to the Holy One^(V) of Israel.
⁸They will not look to the altars,^(W)
    the work of their hands,^(X)
and they will have no regard for the Asherah poles^[a]^(Y)
    and the incense altars their fingers^(Z) have made.

⁹In that day their strong cities, which they left because of the Israelites, will be like places abandoned to thickets and undergrowth.^(AA) And all will be desolation.

¹⁰You have forgotten^(AB) God your Savior;^(AC)
    you have not remembered the Rock,^(AD) your fortress.^(AE)
Therefore, though you set out the finest plants
    and plant imported vines,^(AF)
¹¹though on the day you set them out, you make them grow,
    and on the morning^(AG) when you plant them, you bring them to bud,
yet the harvest^(AH) will be as nothing^(AI)
    in the day of disease and incurable^(AJ) pain.^(AK)

¹²Woe to the many nations that rage^(AL)—
    they rage like the raging sea!^(AM)
Woe to the peoples who roar^(AN)—
    they roar like the roaring of great waters!^(AO)
¹³Although the peoples roar^(AP) like the roar of surging waters,
    when he rebukes^(AQ) them they flee^(AR) far away,
driven before the wind like chaff^(AS) on the hills,
    like tumbleweed before a gale.^(AT)
¹⁴In the evening, sudden^(AU) terror!^(AV)
    Before the morning, they are gone!^(AW)
This is the portion of those who loot us,
    the lot of those who plunder us.

A Prophecy Against Cush

18 Woe^(AX) to the land of whirring wings^[b]
along the rivers of Cush,^[c]^(AY)
²which sends envoys^(AZ) by sea
in papyrus^(BA) boats over the water.

Go, swift messengers,
to a people tall and smooth-skinned,^(BB)
to a people feared far and wide,
an aggressive^(BC) nation of strange speech,
whose land is divided by rivers.^(BD)

³All you people of the world,^(BE)
    you who live on the earth,
when a banner^(BF) is raised on the mountains,
    you will see it,
and when a trumpet^(BG) sounds,
    you will hear it.
⁴This is what the Lord says to me:
    “I will remain quiet^(BH) and will look on from my dwelling place,^(BI)
like shimmering heat in the sunshine,^(BJ)
    like a cloud of dew^(BK) in the heat of harvest.”
⁵For, before the harvest, when the blossom is gone
    and the flower becomes a ripening grape,
he will cut off^(BL) the shoots with pruning knives,
    and cut down and take away the spreading branches.^(BM)
⁶They will all be left to the mountain birds of prey^(BN)
    and to the wild animals;^(BO)
the birds will feed on them all summer,
    the wild animals all winter.

⁷At that time gifts^(BP) will be brought to the Lord Almighty

from a people tall and smooth-skinned,^(BQ)
from a people feared^(BR) far and wide,
an aggressive nation of strange speech,
whose land is divided by rivers^(BS)—

the gifts will be brought to Mount Zion, the place of the Name of the Lord Almighty.^(BT)

Footnotes

Isaiah 17:8 That is, wooden symbols of the goddess Asherah
Isaiah 18:1 Or of locusts
Isaiah 18:1 That is, the upper Nile region

Acts 6

New International Version

The Choosing of the Seven

6 In those days when the number of disciples was increasing,^(A) the Hellenistic Jews^[a]^(B) among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows^(C) were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.^(D) ²So the Twelve gathered all the disciples^(E) together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God^(F) in order to wait on tables. ³Brothers and sisters,^(G) choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit^(H) and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them^(I) ⁴and will give our attention to prayer^(J) and the ministry of the word.”

⁵This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen,^(K) a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit;^(L) also Philip,^(M) Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. ⁶They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed^(N) and laid their hands on them.^(O)

⁷So the word of God spread.^(P) The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly,^(Q) and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.

Stephen Seized

⁸Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs^(R) among the people. ⁹Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)—Jews of Cyrene^(S) and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia^(T) and Asia^(U)—who began to argue with Stephen. ¹⁰But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.^(V)

¹¹Then they secretly^(W) persuaded some men to say, “We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.”^(X)

¹²So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin.^(Y) ¹³They produced false witnesses,^(Z) who testified, “This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place^(AA) and against the law. ¹⁴For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place^(AB) and change the customs Moses handed down to us.”^(AC)