Where To Offer Sacrifices

17 The Lord told Moses ² to tell Aaron, his sons, and everyone else in Israel:

^3-4 Whenever you kill any of your cattle, sheep, or goats as sacrifices to me, you must do it at the entrance to the sacred tent. If you don't, you will be guilty of pouring out blood, and you will no longer belong to the community of Israel. ⁵ And so, when you sacrifice an animal to ask my blessing,^[a] it must not be done out in a field, ⁶ but in front of the sacred tent. Then a priest can splatter its blood against the bronze altar and send its fat up in smoke with a smell that pleases me. ⁷ Don't ever turn from me again and offer sacrifices to goat-demons. This law will never change.

⁸ Remember! No one in Israel, including foreigners, is to offer a sacrifice anywhere ⁹ except at the entrance to the sacred tent. If you do, you will no longer belong to my people.

Do Not Eat Blood

The Lord said:

^10 (A) I will turn against any of my people who eat blood. This also includes any foreigners living among you. ^11 (B) Life is in the blood, and I have given you the blood of animals to sacrifice in place of your own. ¹² That's also why I have forbidden you to eat blood. ¹³ Even if you should hunt and kill a bird or an animal, you must drain out the blood and cover it with soil.

¹⁴ The life of every living creature is in its blood. That's why I have forbidden you to eat blood and why I have warned you that anyone who does will no longer belong to my people.

¹⁵ If you happen to find a dead animal and eat it, you must take a bath and wash your clothes, but you are still unclean until evening. ¹⁶ If you don't take a bath, you will suffer for what you did wrong.

Forbidden Sex

18 The Lord told Moses ² to tell the people of Israel:

I am the Lord your God! ³ So don't follow the customs of Egypt where you used to live or those of Canaan where I am bringing you. ⁴ I am the Lord your God, and you must obey my teachings. ^5 (C) Obey them and you will live. I am the Lord.

⁶ Don't have sex with any of your close relatives, ⁷ especially your own mother. This would disgrace your father. ^8 (D) And don't disgrace him by having sex with any of his other wives. ^9 (E) Don't have sex with your sister or stepsister, whether you grew up together or not. ¹⁰ Don't disgrace yourself by having sex with your granddaughter ¹¹ or half sister ^12-13 (F) or a sister of your father or mother. ¹⁴ Don't disgrace your uncle by having sex with his wife. ^15 (G) Don't have sex with your daughter-in-law ^16 (H) or sister-in-law. ^17 (I) And don't have sex with the daughter or granddaughter of any woman that you have earlier had sex with. You will be having sex with her closest relatives, and that would make you unclean. ¹⁸ As long as your wife is alive, don't cause trouble for her by taking one of her sisters as a second wife.

^19 (J) When a woman is having her monthly period, she is unclean, so don't have sex with her.

^20 (K) Don't have sex with another man's wife—that would make you unclean.

^21 (L) Don't sacrifice your children on the altar fires to the god Molech. I am the Lord your God, and that would disgrace me.

^22 (M) It is disgusting for a man to have sex with another man.

^23 (N) Anyone who has sex with an animal is unclean.

²⁴ Don't make yourselves unclean by any of these disgusting practices of those nations that I am forcing out of the land for you. They made themselves ²⁵ and the land so unclean, that I punished the land because of their sins, and I made it vomit them up. ^26-27 Now don't do these sickening things that make the land filthy. Instead, obey my laws and teachings. ²⁸ Then the land won't become sick of you and vomit you up, just as it did them. ^29-30 If any of you do these vulgar, disgusting things, you will be unclean and no longer belong to my people. I am the Lord your God, and I forbid you to follow their sickening way of life.

Soldiers Make Fun of Jesus

(Mark 15.16-21; John 19.2,3)

²⁷ The governor's soldiers led Jesus into the fortress^[a] and brought together the rest of the troops. ²⁸ They stripped off Jesus' clothes and put a scarlet robe^[b] on him. ²⁹ They made a crown out of thorn branches and placed it on his head, and they put a stick in his right hand. The soldiers knelt down and pretended to worship him. They made fun of him and shouted, “Hey, you king of the Jews!” ³⁰ Then they spit on him. They took the stick from him and beat him on the head with it.

Jesus Is Nailed to a Cross

(Mark 15.22-32; Luke 23.27-43; John 19.17-27)

³¹ When the soldiers had finished making fun of Jesus, they took off the robe. They put his own clothes back on him and led him off to be nailed to a cross. ³² On the way they met a man named Simon who was from Cyrene, and they forced him to carry Jesus' cross.

³³ They came to a place named Golgotha, which means “Place of a Skull.”^{[c] 34 (A)} There they gave Jesus some wine mixed with a drug to ease the pain. But when Jesus tasted what it was, he refused to drink it.

^35 (B) The soldiers nailed Jesus to a cross and gambled to see who would get his clothes. ³⁶ Then they sat down to guard him. ³⁷ Above his head they put a sign that told why he was nailed there. It read, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” ³⁸ The soldiers also nailed two criminals on crosses, one to the right of Jesus and the other to his left.

^39 (C) People who passed by said terrible things about Jesus. They shook their heads and ^40 (D) shouted, “So you're the one who claimed you could tear down the temple and build it again in three days! If you are God's Son, save yourself and come down from the cross!”

⁴¹ The chief priests, the leaders, and the teachers of the Law of Moses also made fun of Jesus. They said, ⁴² “He saved others, but he can't save himself. If he is the king of Israel, he should come down from the cross! Then we will believe him. ^43 (E) He trusted God, so let God save him, if he wants to. He even said he was God's Son.” ⁴⁴ The two criminals also said cruel things to Jesus.

The Death of Jesus

(Mark 15.33-41; Luke 23.44-49; John 19.28-30)

⁴⁵ At noon the sky turned dark and stayed that way until three o'clock. ^46 (F) Then about that time Jesus shouted, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?”^[d] which means, “My God, my God, why have you deserted me?”

⁴⁷ Some of the people standing there heard Jesus and said, “He's calling for Elijah.”^{[e] 48 (G)} One of them at once ran and grabbed a sponge. He soaked it in wine, then put it on a stick and held it up to Jesus.

⁴⁹ Others said, “Wait! Let's see if Elijah will come^[f] and save him.” ⁵⁰ Once again Jesus shouted, and then he died.