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) 2} except for a close relative, such as his mother or father,^(D) his son or daughter, his brother, ³ or an unmarried sister who is dependent on him since she has no husband—for her he may make himself unclean.^{(E) 4} He 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) 6} They 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) 8} Regard 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) 11} He 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) 12} nor 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) 14} He must not marry a widow, a divorced woman, or a woman defiled by prostitution, but only a virgin from his own people, ¹⁵ so that he will not defile his offspring among his people. I am the Lord, who makes him holy.’”

¹⁶ The 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) 18} No man who has any defect^(AE) may come near: no man who is blind^(AF) or lame,^(AG) disfigured or deformed; ¹⁹ no man with a crippled foot or hand, ²⁰ or who is a hunchback or a dwarf, or who has any eye defect, or who has festering or running sores or damaged testicles.^{(AH) 21} No 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) 22} He may eat the most holy food of his God,^(AL) as well as the holy food; ²³ yet 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)’”

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

Job

42 Then Job replied to the Lord:

Epilogue

⁷ After the Lord had said these things to Job^(K), he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “I am angry with you and your two friends,^(L) because you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has.^{(M) 8} So now take seven bulls and seven rams^(N) and go to my servant Job^(O) and sacrifice a burnt offering^(P) for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer^(Q) and not deal with you according to your folly.^(R) You have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has.”^{(S) 9} So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite^(T) did what the Lord told them; and the Lord accepted Job’s prayer.^(U)

¹⁰ After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes^(V) and gave him twice as much as he had before.^{(W) 11} All his brothers and sisters and everyone who had known him before^(X) came and ate with him in his house. They comforted and consoled him over all the trouble the Lord had brought on him,^(Y) and each one gave him a piece of silver^[a] and a gold ring.

¹² The Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the former part. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys. ¹³ And he also had seven sons and three daughters. ¹⁴ The first daughter he named Jemimah, the second Keziah and the third Keren-Happuch. ¹⁵ Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job’s daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers.

¹⁶ After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. ¹⁷ And so Job died, an old man and full of years.^(Z)

Jesus at a Pharisee’s House^(A)

14 One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee,^(B) he was being carefully watched.^{(C) 2} There in front of him was a man suffering from abnormal swelling of his body. ³ Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law,^(D) “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?”^{(E) 4} But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him on his way.

⁵ Then he asked them, “If one of you has a child^[a] or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull it out?”^{(F) 6} And they had nothing to say.

⁷ When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table,^(G) he told them this parable: ⁸ “When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. ⁹ If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. ¹⁰ But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all the other guests. ¹¹ For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”^(H)

¹² Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. ¹³ But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,^{(I) 14} and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”^(J)

The Parable of the Great Banquet^(K)

¹⁵ When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast^(L) in the kingdom of God.”^(M)

¹⁶ Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. ¹⁷ At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’

¹⁸ “But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’

¹⁹ “Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’

²⁰ “Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’

²¹ “The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’^(N)

²² “‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’

²³ “Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full. ²⁴ I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’”^(O)

The Cost of Being a Disciple

²⁵ Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: ²⁶ “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.^{(P) 27} And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.^(Q)

²⁸ “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? ²⁹ For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, ³⁰ saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’

³¹ “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? ³² If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. ³³ In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.^(R)

³⁴ “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?^{(S) 35} It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.^(T)

“Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”^(U)