Who Is the Greatest?^(A)

18 At ^(B)that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

² Then Jesus called a little ^(C)child to Him, set him in the midst of them, ³ and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, ^(D)unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. ^4 (E)Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. ^5 (F)Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.

Jesus Warns of Offenses^(G)

^6 (H)“But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. ⁷ Woe to the world because of ^[a]offenses! For ^(I)offenses must come, but ^(J)woe to that man by whom the offense comes!

^8 (K)“If your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life lame or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet, to be cast into the everlasting fire. ⁹ And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into ^[b]hell fire.

The Parable of the Lost Sheep^(L)

¹⁰ “Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven ^(M)their angels always ^(N)see the face of My Father who is in heaven. ^11 (O)For^[c] the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.

^12 (P)“What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying? ¹³ And if he should find it, assuredly, I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray. ¹⁴ Even so it is not the ^(Q)will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.

Dealing with a Sinning Brother

¹⁵ “Moreover ^(R)if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, ^(S)you have gained your brother. ¹⁶ But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ^(T)‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’ ¹⁷ And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a ^(U)heathen and a tax collector.

¹⁸ “Assuredly, I say to you, ^(V)whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

^19 (W)“Again^[d] I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, ^(X)it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. ²⁰ For where two or three are gathered ^(Y)together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”

Ceremonially Unclean Persons Isolated^(A)

5 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ² “Command the children of Israel that they put out of the camp every ^(B)leper, everyone who has a ^(C)discharge, and whoever becomes ^(D)defiled ^[a]by a corpse. ³ You shall put out both male and female; you shall put them outside the camp, that they may not defile their camps ^(E)in the midst of which I dwell.” ⁴ And the children of Israel did so, and put them outside the camp; as the Lord spoke to Moses, so the children of Israel did.

Confession and Restitution^(F)

⁵ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ⁶ “Speak to the children of Israel: ^(G)‘When a man or woman commits any sin that men commit in unfaithfulness against the Lord, and that person is guilty, ^7 (H)then he shall confess the sin which he has committed. He shall make restitution for his trespass ^(I)in full, plus one-fifth of it, and give it to the one he has wronged. ⁸ But if the man has no ^[b]relative to whom restitution may be made for the wrong, the restitution for the wrong must go to the Lord for the priest, in addition to ^(J)the ram of the atonement with which atonement is made for him. ⁹ Every ^(K)offering^[c] of all the holy things of the children of Israel, which they bring to the priest, shall be ^(L)his. ¹⁰ And every man’s ^[d]holy things shall be his; whatever any man gives the priest shall be ^(M)his.’ ”

Concerning Unfaithful Wives

¹¹ And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹² “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘If any man’s wife goes astray and behaves unfaithfully toward him, ¹³ and a man ^(N)lies with her carnally, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband, and it is concealed that she has defiled herself, and there was no witness against her, nor was she ^(O)caught— ¹⁴ if the spirit of jealousy comes upon him and he becomes ^(P)jealous of his wife, who has defiled herself; or if the spirit of jealousy comes upon him and he becomes jealous of his wife, although she has not defiled herself— ¹⁵ then the man shall bring his wife to the priest. He shall ^(Q)bring the offering required for her, one-tenth of an ephah of barley meal; he shall pour no oil on it and put no frankincense on it, because it is a grain offering of jealousy, an offering for remembering, for ^(R)bringing iniquity to remembrance.

¹⁶ ‘And the priest shall bring her near, and set her before the Lord. ¹⁷ The priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel, and take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water. ¹⁸ Then the priest shall stand the woman before the ^(S)Lord, uncover the woman’s head, and put the offering for remembering in her hands, which is the grain offering of jealousy. And the priest shall have in his hand the bitter water that brings a curse. ¹⁹ And the priest shall put her under oath, and say to the woman, “If no man has lain with you, and if you have not gone astray to uncleanness while under your husband’s authority, be free from this bitter water that brings a curse. ²⁰ But if you have gone astray while under your husband’s authority, and if you have defiled yourself and some man other than your husband has lain with you”— ²¹ then the priest shall ^(T)put the woman under the oath of the curse, and he shall say to the woman—^(U)“the Lord make you a curse and an oath among your people, when the Lord makes your thigh ^[e]rot and your belly swell; ²² and may this water that causes the curse ^(V)go into your stomach, and make your belly swell and your thigh rot.”

‘^(W)Then the woman shall say, “Amen, so be it.”

²³ ‘Then the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall scrape them off into the bitter water. ²⁴ And he shall make the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and the water that brings the curse shall enter her to become bitter. ^25 (X)Then the priest shall take the grain offering of jealousy from the woman’s hand, shall ^(Y)wave the offering before the Lord, and bring it to the altar; ²⁶ and the priest shall take a handful of the offering, ^(Z)as its memorial portion, burn it on the altar, and afterward make the woman drink the water. ²⁷ When he has made her drink the water, then it shall be, if she has defiled herself and behaved unfaithfully toward her husband, that the water that brings a ^(AA)curse will enter her and become bitter, and her belly will swell, her thigh will rot, and the woman ^(AB)will become a curse among her people. ²⁸ But if the woman has not defiled herself, and is clean, then she shall be free and may conceive children.

²⁹ ‘This is the law of jealousy, when a wife, while under her husband’s authority, ^(AC)goes astray and defiles herself, ³⁰ or when the spirit of jealousy comes upon a man, and he becomes jealous of his wife; then he shall stand the woman before the Lord, and the priest shall execute all this law upon her. ³¹ Then the man shall be free from ^[f]iniquity, but that woman ^(AD)shall bear her ^[g]guilt.’ ”

The Law of the Nazirite

6 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When either a man or woman ^[h]consecrates an offering to take the vow of a Nazirite, ^(AE)to separate himself to the Lord, ^3 (AF)he shall separate himself from wine and similar drink; he shall drink neither vinegar made from wine nor vinegar made from similar drink; neither shall he drink any grape juice, nor eat fresh grapes or raisins. ⁴ All the days of his ^[i]separation he shall eat nothing that is produced by the grapevine, from seed to skin.

⁵ ‘All the days of the vow of his separation no ^(AG)razor shall come upon his head; until the days are fulfilled for which he separated himself to the Lord, he shall be holy. Then he shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow. ⁶ All the days that he separates himself to the Lord ^(AH)he shall not go near a dead body. ^7 (AI)He shall not ^[j]make himself unclean even for his father or his mother, for his brother or his sister, when they die, because his separation to God is on his head. ^8 (AJ)All the days of his separation he shall be holy to the Lord.

⁹ ‘And if anyone dies very suddenly beside him, and he defiles his consecrated head, then he shall ^(AK)shave his head on the day of his cleansing; on the seventh day he shall shave it. ¹⁰ Then ^(AL)on the eighth day he shall bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest, to the door of the tabernacle of meeting; ¹¹ and the priest shall offer one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, and make atonement for him, because he sinned in regard to the corpse; and he shall sanctify his head that same day. ¹² He shall consecrate to the Lord the days of his separation, and bring a male lamb in its first year ^(AM)as a trespass offering; but the former days shall be ^[k]lost, because his separation was defiled.

¹³ ‘Now this is the law of the Nazirite: ^(AN)When the days of his separation are fulfilled, he shall be brought to the door of the tabernacle of meeting. ¹⁴ And he shall present his offering to the Lord: one male lamb in its first year without blemish as a burnt offering, one ewe lamb in its first year without blemish ^(AO)as a sin offering, one ram without blemish ^(AP)as a peace offering, ¹⁵ a basket of unleavened bread, ^(AQ)cakes of fine flour mixed with oil, unleavened wafers ^(AR)anointed with oil, and their grain offering with their ^(AS)drink offerings.

¹⁶ ‘Then the priest shall bring them before the Lord and offer his sin offering and his burnt offering; ¹⁷ and he shall offer the ram as a sacrifice of a peace offering to the Lord, with the basket of unleavened bread; the priest shall also offer its grain offering and its drink offering. ^18 (AT)Then the Nazirite shall shave his consecrated head at the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and shall take the hair from his consecrated head and put it on the fire which is under the sacrifice of the peace offering.

¹⁹ ‘And the priest shall take the ^(AU)boiled shoulder of the ram, one ^(AV)unleavened cake from the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and ^(AW)put them upon the hands of the Nazirite after he has shaved his consecrated hair, ²⁰ and the priest shall wave them as a wave offering before the Lord; ^(AX)they are holy for the priest, together with the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the heave offering. After that the Nazirite may drink wine.’

²¹ “This is the law of the Nazirite who vows to the Lord the offering for his separation, and besides that, whatever else his hand is able to provide; according to the vow which he takes, so he must do according to the law of his separation.”

The Priestly Blessing

²² And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²³ “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, ‘This is the way you shall bless the children of Israel. Say to them:

^27 (BE)“So they shall ^[m]put My name on the children of Israel, and ^(BF)I will bless them.”

Fear God, Keep Your Vows

5 Walk ^(A)prudently when you go to the house of God; and draw near to hear rather ^(B)than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they do evil.

⁶ Do not let your ^(I)mouth cause your flesh to sin, ^(J)nor say before the messenger of God that it was an error. Why should God be angry at your ^[a]excuse and destroy the work of your hands? ⁷ For in the multitude of dreams and many words there is also vanity. But ^(K)fear God.

The Vanity of Gain and Honor

⁸ If you ^(L)see the oppression of the poor, and the violent ^[b]perversion of justice and righteousness in a province, do not marvel at the matter; for ^(M)high official watches over high official, and higher officials are over them.

⁹ Moreover the profit of the land is for all; even the king is served from the field.

¹⁸ Here is what I have seen: ^(S)It is good and fitting for one to eat and drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labor in which he toils under the sun all the days of his life which God gives him; ^(T)for it is his ^[d]heritage. ¹⁹ As for ^(U)every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, and given him power to eat of it, to receive his ^[e]heritage and rejoice in his labor—this is the ^(V)gift of God. ²⁰ For he will not dwell unduly on the days of his life, because God keeps him busy with the joy of his heart.