Laws for Purification

19 Now the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ² “This is the statute of the law that the Lord has commanded: Tell the people of Israel to bring you a red heifer without defect, in which there is no blemish, ^(A)and on which a yoke has never come. ³ And you shall give it to Eleazar the priest, and ^(B)it shall be taken outside the camp and slaughtered before him. ⁴ And Eleazar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger, and ^(C)sprinkle some of its blood toward the front of the tent of meeting seven times. ⁵ And the heifer shall be burned in his sight. ^(D)Its skin, its flesh, and its blood, with its dung, shall be burned. ⁶ And the priest shall take ^(E)cedarwood and hyssop and scarlet yarn, and throw them into the fire burning the heifer. ⁷ Then the priest ^(F)shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp. But the priest shall be unclean until evening. ^8 (G)The one who burns the heifer ^(H)shall wash his clothes in water and bathe his body in water and shall be unclean until evening. ⁹ And a man who is clean shall gather up ^(I)the ashes of the heifer and deposit them outside the camp in a ^(J)clean place. And they shall be kept for the water for ^(K)impurity for the congregation of the people of Israel; it is a sin offering. ¹⁰ And the one who gathers the ashes of the heifer ^(L)shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening. And this shall be a perpetual statute for the people of Israel, and for the stranger who sojourns among them.

^11 (M)“Whoever touches the dead body of any person shall be unclean seven days. ¹² He ^(N)shall cleanse himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day, and so be clean. But if he does not cleanse himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not become clean. ¹³ Whoever touches a dead person, the body of anyone who has died, and does not cleanse himself, ^(O)defiles the tabernacle of the Lord, ^(P)and that person shall be cut off from Israel; because the water for impurity was not thrown on him, he shall be unclean. His uncleanness is still on him.

¹⁴ “This is the law when someone dies in a tent: everyone who comes into the tent and everyone who is in the tent shall be unclean seven days. ¹⁵ And every ^(Q)open vessel that has no cover fastened on it is unclean. ^16 (R)Whoever in the open field touches someone who was killed with a sword or who died naturally, or touches a human bone or a ^(S)grave, shall be unclean seven days. ¹⁷ For the unclean they shall take ^(T)some ashes of the burnt sin offering, and fresh^[a] water shall be added in a vessel. ¹⁸ Then a clean person shall take ^(U)hyssop and dip it in the water and sprinkle it on the tent and on all the furnishings and on the persons who were there and on whoever touched the bone, or the slain or the dead or the grave. ¹⁹ And the clean person shall sprinkle it on the unclean ^(V)on the third day and on the seventh day. ^(W)Thus on the seventh day he shall cleanse him, and he shall ^(X)wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and at evening he shall be clean.

²⁰ “If the man who is unclean does not cleanse himself, ^(Y)that person shall be cut off from the midst of the assembly, since he has defiled the sanctuary of the Lord. Because the water for impurity has not been thrown on him, he is unclean. ²¹ And it shall be a statute forever for them. The one who sprinkles the water for impurity shall wash his clothes, and the one who touches the water for impurity shall be unclean until evening. ²² And ^(Z)whatever the unclean person touches shall be unclean, and anyone who touches it shall be unclean until evening.”

Jephthah Delivers Israel

11 Now ^(A)Jephthah the Gileadite was ^(B)a mighty warrior, but he was the son of a prostitute. Gilead was the father of Jephthah. ² And Gilead's wife also bore him sons. And when his wife's sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, “You shall not have an inheritance in our father's house, for you are the son of another woman.” ³ Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of ^(C)Tob, and ^(D)worthless fellows collected around Jephthah and went out with him.

⁴ After a time the Ammonites made war against Israel. ⁵ And when the Ammonites made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to bring Jephthah from the land of ^(E)Tob. ⁶ And they said to Jephthah, “Come and be our leader, that we may fight against the Ammonites.” ⁷ But Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Did you not hate me and drive me out of my father's house? Why have you come to me now when you are in distress?” ⁸ And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “That is why we have turned to you now, that you may go with us and fight against the Ammonites and ^(F)be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.” ⁹ Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you bring me home again to fight against the Ammonites, and the Lord gives them over to me, I will be your head.” ¹⁰ And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, ^(G)“The Lord will be witness between us, if we do not do as you say.” ¹¹ So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people ^(H)made him head and leader over them. And Jephthah spoke all his words ^(I)before the Lord at ^(J)Mizpah.

¹² Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites and said, “What do you have against me, that you have come to me to fight against my land?” ¹³ And the king of the Ammonites answered the messengers of Jephthah, ^(K)“Because Israel on coming up from Egypt took away my land, from the ^(L)Arnon to the ^(M)Jabbok and to the Jordan; now therefore restore it peaceably.” ¹⁴ Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites ¹⁵ and said to him, “Thus says Jephthah: ^(N)Israel did not take away the land of Moab or the land of the Ammonites, ¹⁶ but when they came up from Egypt, Israel went through the wilderness ^(O)to the Red Sea and ^(P)came to Kadesh. ^17 (Q)Israel then sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Please let us pass through your land,’ ^(R)but the king of Edom would not listen. And they sent also to the king of Moab, but he would not consent. So Israel ^(S)remained at Kadesh.

¹⁸ “Then they journeyed through the wilderness and ^(T)went around the land of Edom and the land of Moab and ^(U)arrived on the east side of the land of Moab and ^(V)camped on the other side of the Arnon. But they did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was the boundary of Moab. ^19 (W)Israel then sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, king of Heshbon, and Israel said to him, ‘Please let us pass through your land to our country,’ ²⁰ but Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory, so Sihon gathered all his people together and encamped at Jahaz and fought with Israel. ²¹ And the Lord, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they defeated them. So Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites, who inhabited that country. ²² And they took possession of all the territory of the Amorites from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the wilderness to the Jordan. ²³ So then the Lord, the God of Israel, dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel; and are you to take possession of them? ²⁴ Will you not possess what ^(X)Chemosh your god gives you to possess? ^(Y)And all that the Lord our God has dispossessed before us, we will possess. ²⁵ Now are you any better than ^(Z)Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever contend against Israel, or did he ever go to war with them? ²⁶ While Israel lived ^(AA)in Heshbon and its villages, and ^(AB)in Aroer and its villages, and in all the cities that are on the banks of the Arnon, 300 years, why did you not deliver them within that time? ²⁷ I therefore have not sinned against you, and you do me wrong by making war on me. ^(AC)The Lord, the Judge, decide this day between the people of Israel and the people of Ammon.” ²⁸ But the king of the Ammonites did not listen to the words of Jephthah that he sent to him.

Jephthah's Tragic Vow

^29 (AD)Then the Spirit of the Lord was upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh and passed on to Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he passed on to the Ammonites. ³⁰ And Jephthah ^(AE)made a vow to the Lord and said, “If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, ³¹ then whatever^[a] comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites ^(AF)shall be the Lord's, and ^(AG)I will offer it^[b] up for a burnt offering.” ³² So Jephthah crossed over to the Ammonites to fight against them, and the Lord gave them into his hand. ³³ And he struck them from Aroer to the neighborhood of ^(AH)Minnith, twenty cities, and as far as Abel-keramim, with a great blow. So the Ammonites were subdued before the people of Israel.

Redemption Through the Blood of Christ

¹¹ But when Christ appeared as a high priest ^(A)of the good things that have come,^[a] then through ^(B)the greater and more perfect tent (^(C)not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) ¹² he ^(D)entered ^(E)once for all into the holy places, not by means of ^(F)the blood of goats and calves but ^(G)by means of his own blood, ^(H)thus securing an eternal redemption. ¹³ For if ^(I)the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with ^(J)the ashes of a heifer, sanctify^[b] for the purification of the flesh, ¹⁴ how much more will ^(K)the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit ^(L)offered himself without blemish to God, ^(M)purify our^[c] conscience ^(N)from dead works ^(O)to serve the living God.

¹⁵ Therefore he is ^(P)the mediator of a new covenant, so that ^(Q)those who are called may ^(R)receive the promised eternal inheritance, ^(S)since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.^{[d] 16} For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. ¹⁷ For ^(T)a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive. ¹⁸ Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated ^(U)without blood. ¹⁹ For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took ^(V)the blood of calves and goats, ^(W)with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, ²⁰ saying, ^(X)“This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.” ²¹ And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both ^(Y)the tent and all the vessels used in worship. ²² Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and ^(Z)without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

²³ Thus it was necessary for ^(AA)the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. ²⁴ For Christ has entered, not into holy places ^(AB)made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God ^(AC)on our behalf. ²⁵ Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as ^(AD)the high priest enters ^(AE)the holy places every year with blood not his own, ²⁶ for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, ^(AF)he has appeared ^(AG)once for all ^(AH)at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. ²⁷ And just as ^(AI)it is appointed for man to die once, and ^(AJ)after that comes judgment, ²⁸ so Christ, having been offered once ^(AK)to bear the sins of ^(AL)many, will appear ^(AM)a second time, ^(AN)not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly ^(AO)waiting for him.

¹⁰ Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel ^(A)and yet you do not understand these things? ¹¹ Truly, truly, I say to you, ^(B)we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but ^(C)you^[a] do not receive our testimony. ¹² If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? ^13 (D)No one has ^(E)ascended into heaven except ^(F)he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.^{[b] 14} And ^(G)as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man ^(H)be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes ^(I)in him ^(J)may have eternal life.^[c]

For God So Loved the World

¹⁶ “For ^(K)God so loved ^(L)the world,^{[d] (M)}that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not ^(N)perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For ^(O)God did not send his Son into the world ^(P)to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. ^18 (Q)Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not ^(R)believed in the name of the only Son of God. ^19 (S)And this is the judgment: ^(T)the light has come into the world, and ^(U)people loved the darkness rather than the light because ^(V)their works were evil. ^20 (W)For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, ^(X)lest his works should be exposed. ²¹ But whoever ^(Y)does what is true ^(Z)comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”