Supplementary offerings

15 The Lord said to Moses, ² ‘Speak to the Israelites and say to them: “After you enter the land I am giving you as a home ³ and you present to the Lord food offerings from the herd or the flock, as an aroma pleasing to the Lord – whether burnt offerings or sacrifices, for special vows or freewill offerings or festival offerings – ⁴ then the person who brings an offering shall present to the Lord a grain offering of a tenth of an ephah^[a] of the finest flour mixed with a quarter of a hin^[b] of olive oil. ⁵ With each lamb for the burnt offering or the sacrifice, prepare a quarter of a hin of wine as a drink offering.

⁶ ‘“With a ram prepare a grain offering of one-fifth of an ephah^[c] of the finest flour mixed with a third of a hin^[d] of olive oil, ⁷ and a third of a hin of wine as a drink offering. Offer it as an aroma pleasing to the Lord.

⁸ ‘“When you prepare a young bull as a burnt offering or sacrifice, for a special vow or a fellowship offering to the Lord, ⁹ bring with the bull a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah^[e] of the finest flour mixed with half a hin^[f] of olive oil, ¹⁰ and also bring half a hin of wine as a drink offering. This will be a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord. ¹¹ Each bull or ram, each lamb or young goat, is to be prepared in this manner. ¹² Do this for each one, for as many as you prepare.

¹³ ‘“Everyone who is native-born must do these things in this way when they present a food offering as an aroma pleasing to the Lord. ¹⁴ For the generations to come, whenever a foreigner or anyone else living among you presents a food offering as an aroma pleasing to the Lord, they must do exactly as you do. ¹⁵ The community is to have the same rules for you and for the foreigner residing among you; this is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. You and the foreigner shall be the same before the Lord: ¹⁶ the same laws and regulations will apply both to you and to the foreigner residing among you.”’

¹⁷ The Lord said to Moses, ¹⁸ ‘Speak to the Israelites and say to them: “When you enter the land to which I am taking you ¹⁹ and you eat the food of the land, present a portion as an offering to the Lord. ²⁰ Present a loaf from the first of your ground meal and present it as an offering from the threshing-floor. ²¹ Throughout the generations to come you are to give this offering to the Lord from the first of your ground meal.

Offerings for unintentional sins

²² ‘“Now if you as a community unintentionally fail to keep any of these commands the Lord gave Moses – ²³ any of the Lord’s commands to you through him, from the day the Lord gave them and continuing through the generations to come – ²⁴ and if this is done unintentionally without the community being aware of it, then the whole community is to offer a young bull for a burnt offering as an aroma pleasing to the Lord, along with its prescribed grain offering and drink offering, and a male goat for a sin offering.^{[g] 25} The priest is to make atonement for the whole Israelite community, and they will be forgiven, for it was not intentional and they have presented to the Lord for their wrong a food offering and a sin offering. ²⁶ The whole Israelite community and the foreigners residing among them will be forgiven, because all the people were involved in the unintentional wrong.

²⁷ ‘“But if just one person sins unintentionally, that person must bring a year-old female goat for a sin offering. ²⁸ The priest is to make atonement before the Lord for the one who erred by sinning unintentionally, and when atonement has been made, that person will be forgiven. ²⁹ One and the same law applies to everyone who sins unintentionally, whether a native-born Israelite or a foreigner residing among you.

³⁰ ‘“But anyone who sins defiantly, whether native-born or foreigner, utters blasphemy against the Lord and must be cut off from the people of Israel. ³¹ Because they have despised the Lord’s word and broken his commands, they must surely be cut off; their guilt remains on them.”’

The Sabbath-breaker put to death

³² While the Israelites were in the wilderness, a man was found gathering wood on the Sabbath day. ³³ Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and the whole assembly, ³⁴ and they kept him in custody, because it was not clear what should be done to him. ³⁵ Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘The man must die. The whole assembly must stone him outside the camp.’ ³⁶ So the assembly took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the Lord commanded Moses.

Tassels on garments

³⁷ The Lord said to Moses, ³⁸ ‘Speak to the Israelites and say to them: “Throughout the generations to come you are to make tassels on the corners of your garments, with a blue cord on each tassel. ³⁹ You will have these tassels to look at and so you will remember all the commands of the Lord, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by chasing after the lusts of your own hearts and eyes. ⁴⁰ Then you will remember to obey all my commands and will be consecrated to your God. ⁴¹ I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord your God.”’

Korah, Dathan and Abiram

16 Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and certain Reubenites – Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth – became insolent^{[a] 2} and rose up against Moses. With them were 250 Israelite men, well-known community leaders who had been appointed members of the council. ³ They came as a group to oppose Moses and Aaron and said to them, ‘You have gone too far! The whole community is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is with them. Why then do you set yourselves above the Lord’s assembly?’

⁴ When Moses heard this, he fell face down. ⁵ Then he said to Korah and all his followers: ‘In the morning the Lord will show who belongs to him and who is holy, and he will make that person come near him. The man he chooses he will cause to come near him. ⁶ You, Korah, and all your followers are to do this: take censers ⁷ and tomorrow put burning coals and incense in them before the Lord. The man the Lord chooses will be the one who is holy. You Levites have gone too far!’

⁸ Moses also said to Korah, ‘Now listen, you Levites! ⁹ Isn’t it enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the rest of the Israelite community and brought you near himself to do the work at the Lord’s tabernacle and to stand before the community and minister to them? ¹⁰ He has brought you and all your fellow Levites near himself, but now you are trying to get the priesthood too. ¹¹ It is against the Lord that you and all your followers have banded together. Who is Aaron that you should grumble against him?’

¹² Then Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab. But they said, ‘We will not come! ¹³ Isn’t it enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness? And now you also want to lord it over us! ¹⁴ Moreover, you haven’t brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey or given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Do you want to treat these men like slaves^[b]? No, we will not come!’

¹⁵ Then Moses became very angry and said to the Lord, ‘Do not accept their offering. I have not taken so much as a donkey from them, nor have I wronged any of them.’

¹⁶ Moses said to Korah, ‘You and all your followers are to appear before the Lord tomorrow – you and they and Aaron. ¹⁷ Each man is to take his censer and put incense in it – 250 censers in all – and present it before the Lord. You and Aaron are to present your censers also.’ ¹⁸ So each of them took his censer, put burning coals and incense in it, and stood with Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ¹⁹ When Korah had gathered all his followers in opposition to them at the entrance to the tent of meeting, the glory of the Lord appeared to the entire assembly. ²⁰ The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ²¹ ‘Separate yourselves from this assembly so that I can put an end to them at once.’

²² But Moses and Aaron fell face down and cried out, ‘O God, the God who gives breath to all living things, will you be angry with the entire assembly when only one man sins?’

²³ Then the Lord said to Moses, ²⁴ ‘Say to the assembly, ‘Move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram.”’

²⁵ Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. ²⁶ He warned the assembly, ‘Move back from the tents of these wicked men! Do not touch anything belonging to them, or you will be swept away because of all their sins.’ ²⁷ So they moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram had come out and were standing with their wives, children and little ones at the entrances to their tents.

²⁸ Then Moses said, ‘This is how you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these things and that it was not my idea: ²⁹ if these men die a natural death and suffer the fate of all mankind, then the Lord has not sent me. ³⁰ But if the Lord brings about something totally new, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them, with everything that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the realm of the dead, then you will know that these men have treated the Lord with contempt.’

³¹ As soon as he finished saying all this, the ground under them split apart ³² and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households, and all those associated with Korah, together with their possessions. ³³ They went down alive into the realm of the dead, with everything they owned; the earth closed over them, and they perished and were gone from the community. ³⁴ At their cries, all the Israelites around them fled, shouting, ‘The earth is going to swallow us too!’

³⁵ And fire came out from the Lord and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense.

³⁶ The Lord said to Moses, ³⁷ ‘Tell Eleazar son of Aaron, the priest, to remove the censers from the charred remains and scatter the coals some distance away, for the censers are holy – ³⁸ the censers of the men who sinned at the cost of their lives. Hammer the censers into sheets to overlay the altar, for they were presented before the Lord and have become holy. Let them be a sign to the Israelites.’

³⁹ So Eleazar the priest collected the bronze censers brought by those who had been burned to death, and he had them hammered out to overlay the altar, ⁴⁰ as the Lord directed him through Moses. This was to remind the Israelites that no one except a descendant of Aaron should come to burn incense before the Lord, or he would become like Korah and his followers.

⁴¹ The next day the whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. ‘You have killed the Lord’s people,’ they said.

⁴² But when the assembly gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron and turned towards the tent of meeting, suddenly the cloud covered it and the glory of the Lord appeared. ⁴³ Then Moses and Aaron went to the front of the tent of meeting, ⁴⁴ and the Lord said to Moses, ⁴⁵ ‘Get away from this assembly so that I can put an end to them at once.’ And they fell face down.

⁴⁶ Then Moses said to Aaron, ‘Take your censer and put incense in it, along with burning coals from the altar, and hurry to the assembly to make atonement for them. Wrath has come out from the Lord; the plague has started.’ ⁴⁷ So Aaron did as Moses said, and ran into the midst of the assembly. The plague had already started among the people, but Aaron offered the incense and made atonement for them. ⁴⁸ He stood between the living and the dead, and the plague stopped. ⁴⁹ But 14,700 people died from the plague, in addition to those who had died because of Korah. ⁵⁰ Then Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance to the tent of meeting, for the plague had stopped.^[c]

The greatest in the kingdom of heaven

18 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, ‘Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’

² He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. ³ And he said: ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. ⁴ Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. ⁵ And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.

Causing to stumble

⁶ ‘If anyone causes one of these little ones – those who believe in me – to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung round their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. ⁷ Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come! ⁸ If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. ⁹ And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.

The parable of the wandering sheep

¹⁰ ‘See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. ^[a]

¹² ‘What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? ¹³ And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. ¹⁴ In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.

Dealing with sin in the church

¹⁵ ‘If your brother or sister^[b] sins,^[c] go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. ¹⁶ But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that “every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.”^{[d] 17} If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

¹⁸ ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be^[e] bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be^[f] loosed in heaven.

¹⁹ ‘Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. ²⁰ For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.’

The parable of the unmerciful servant

²¹ Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, ‘Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?’

²² Jesus answered, ‘I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.^[g]

²³ ‘Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. ²⁴ As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold^[h] was brought to him. ²⁵ Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.

²⁶ ‘At this the servant fell on his knees before him. “Be patient with me,” he begged, “and I will pay back everything.” ²⁷ The servant’s master took pity on him, cancelled the debt and let him go.

²⁸ ‘But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins.^[i] He grabbed him and began to choke him. “Pay back what you owe me!” he demanded.

²⁹ ‘His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, “Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.”

³⁰ ‘But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. ³¹ When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.

³² ‘Then the master called the servant in. “You wicked servant,” he said, “I cancelled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. ³³ Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?” ³⁴ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

³⁵ ‘This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.’