Religious Festivals

23 The Lord told Moses ² to say to the community of Israel:

I have chosen certain times for you to come together and worship me.

^3 (A) You have six days when you can do your work, but the seventh day of each week is holy because it belongs to me. No matter where you live, you must rest on the Sabbath and come together for worship. This law will never change.

Passover and the Festival of Thin Bread

(Numbers 28.16-25)

The Lord said:

^4-5 (B) Passover is another time when you must come together to worship me, and it must be celebrated on the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month^[a] of each year.

^6 (C) The Festival of Thin Bread begins on the fifteenth day of that same month; it lasts seven days, and during this time you must honor me by eating bread made without yeast. ⁷ On the first day of this festival you must rest from your work and come together for worship. ⁸ Each day of this festival you must offer sacrifices. Then on the final day you must once again rest from your work and come together for worship.

Offering the First Part of the Harvest

⁹ The Lord told Moses ¹⁰ to say to the community of Israel:

After you enter the land I am giving you, the first bundle of wheat from each crop must be given to me. So bring it to a priest ¹¹ on the day after the Sabbath. He will lift it up^[b] in dedication to me, and I will accept you. ¹² You must also offer a sacrifice to please me.^[c] So bring the priest a one-year-old lamb that has nothing wrong with it ¹³ and two kilograms of your finest flour mixed with olive oil. Then he will place these on the bronze altar and send them up in smoke with a smell that pleases me. Together with these, you must bring a liter of wine as a drink offering. ¹⁴ I am your God, and I forbid you to eat any new grain or anything made from it until you have brought these offerings. This law will never change.

The Harvest Festival

(Numbers 28.26-31)

The Lord said:

^15 (D) Seven weeks after you offer this bundle of grain, each family must bring another offering of new grain. ¹⁶ Do this exactly 50 days later, which is the day following the seventh Sabbath. ¹⁷ Bring two loaves of bread to be lifted up^[d] in dedication to me. Each loaf is to be made with yeast and with two kilograms of the finest flour from the first part of your harvest.

¹⁸ At this same time, the entire community of Israel must bring seven lambs that are a year old, a young bull, and two rams. These animals must have nothing wrong with them, and they must be offered as a sacrifice to please me.^[e] You must also offer the proper grain and wine sacrifices with each animal.^{[f] 19} Offer a goat^[g] as a sacrifice for sin, and two rams a year old as a sacrifice to ask my blessing.^{[h] 20} The priest will lift up^[i] the rams together with the bread in dedication to me. These offerings are holy and are my gift to the priest. ²¹ This is a day of celebration and worship, a time of rest from your work. You and your descendants must obey this law.

^22 (E) When you harvest your grain, always leave some of it standing around the edges of your fields and don't pick up what falls on the ground. Leave it for the poor and for those foreigners who live among you. I am the Lord your God!

The Festival of Trumpets

(Numbers 29.1-6)

²³ The Lord told Moses ^24-25 to say to the people of Israel:

The first day of the seventh month^[j] must be a day of complete rest. Then at the sound of the trumpets, you will come together to worship and to offer sacrifices on the altar.

The Great Day of Forgiveness

(Numbers 29.7-11)

^26 (F) The Lord God said to Moses:

²⁷ The tenth day of the seventh month^[k] is the Great Day of Forgiveness.^[l] It is a solemn day of worship; everyone must go without eating to show sorrow for their sins, and sacrifices must be burned. ²⁸ No one is to work on that day—it is the Great Day of Forgiveness, when sacrifices will be offered to me, so that I will forgive your sins. ²⁹ I will destroy anyone who refuses to go without eating. ^30-31 None of my people are ever to do any work on that day—not now or in the future. And I will wipe out those who do! ³² This is a time of complete rest just like the Sabbath, and everyone must go without eating from the evening of the ninth to the evening of the tenth.

The Festival of Shelters

(Numbers 29.12-40)

^33 (G) The Lord told Moses ³⁴ to say to the community of Israel:

Beginning on the fifteenth day of the seventh month,^[m] and continuing for seven days, everyone must celebrate the Festival of Shelters in honor of me. ³⁵ No one is to do any work on the first day of the festival—it is a time when everyone must come together for worship. ³⁶ For seven days, sacrifices must be offered on the altar. The eighth day is also to be a day of complete rest, as well as a time of offering sacrifices on the altar and of coming together for worship.

³⁷ I have chosen these festivals as times when my people must come together for worship and when animals, grain, and wine are to be offered on the proper days. ³⁸ These festivals must be celebrated in addition to the Sabbaths and the times when you offer special gifts or sacrifices to keep a promise or as a voluntary offering.

³⁹ Remember to begin the Festival of Shelters on the fifteenth day of the seventh month after you have harvested your crops. Celebrate this festival for seven days in honor of me and don't do any work on the first day or on the day following the festival. ⁴⁰ Pick the best fruit from your trees^[n] and cut leafy branches to use during the time of this joyous celebration in my honor. ⁴¹ I command you and all of your descendants to celebrate this festival during the seventh month of each year. ⁴² For seven days every Israelite must live in a shelter, ⁴³ so future generations will know that I made their ancestors live in shelters when I brought them out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.

⁴⁴ This is how Moses instructed the people of Israel to celebrate the Lord's festivals.

Caring for the Lamps

(Exodus 27.20,21)

24 The Lord told Moses ² to say to the community of Israel:

You must supply the purest olive oil for the lamps in the sacred tent, so they will keep burning. ^3-4 Aaron will set up the gold lampstand in the holy place of the sacred tent. Then he will light the seven lamps that must be kept burning there in my presence, every night from now on. This law will never change.

The Sacred Bread

The Lord said:

^5 (H) Use your finest flour to bake twelve loaves of bread about two kilograms each, ⁶ then take them into the sacred tent and lay them on the gold table in two rows of six loaves. ⁷ Alongside each row put some pure incense that will be sent up by fire in place of the bread as an offering to me. ⁸ Aaron must lay fresh loaves on the table each Sabbath, and priests in all generations must continue this practice as part of Israel's agreement with me. ^9 (I) This bread will always belong to Aaron and his family; it is very holy because it was offered to me, and it must be eaten in a holy place.^[o]

Punishment for Cursing the Lord

^10-11 Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri from the tribe of Dan, had married an Egyptian, and they had a son. One day their son got into a fight with an Israelite man in camp and cursed the name of the Lord. So the young man was dragged off to Moses, ¹² who had him guarded while everyone waited for the Lord to tell them what to do.

¹³ Finally, the Lord said to Moses:

¹⁴ This man has cursed me! Take him outside the camp and tell the witnesses to lay their hands on his head. Then command the whole community of Israel to stone him to death. ^15-16 And warn the others that everyone else who curses me will die in the same way, whether they are Israelites by birth or foreigners living among you.

^17 (J) Death is also the penalty for murder, ¹⁸ but the killing of an animal that belongs to someone else requires only that the animal be replaced. ¹⁹ Personal injuries to others must be dealt with in keeping with the crime— ^20 (K) a broken bone for a broken bone, an eye for an eye, or a tooth for a tooth. ²¹ It's possible to pay the owner for an animal that has been killed, but death is the penalty for murder. ^22 (L) I am the Lord your God, and I demand equal justice both for you Israelites and for those foreigners who live among you.

²³ When Moses finished speaking, the people did what the Lord had told Moses, and they stoned to death the man who had cursed the Lord.

The Preaching of John the Baptist

(Matthew 3.1-12; Luke 3.1-18; John 1.19-28)

1 This is the good news about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.^{[a] 2 (A)} It began just as God had said in the book written by Isaiah the prophet,

⁴ So John the Baptist showed up in the desert and told everyone, “Turn back to God and be baptized! Then your sins will be forgiven.”

⁵ From all Judea and Jerusalem crowds of people went to John. They told how sorry they were for their sins, and he baptized them in the Jordan River.

^6 (C) John wore clothes made of camel's hair. He had a leather strap around his waist and ate grasshoppers and wild honey.

⁷ John also told the people, “Someone more powerful is going to come. And I am not good enough even to stoop down and untie his sandals.^{[b] 8} I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit!”

The Baptism of Jesus

(Matthew 3.13-17; Luke 3.21,22)

⁹ About that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee, and John baptized him in the Jordan River. ¹⁰ As soon as Jesus came out of the water, he saw the sky open and the Holy Spirit coming down to him like a dove. ^11 (D) A voice from heaven said, “You are my own dear Son, and I am pleased with you.”

Jesus and Satan

(Matthew 4.1-11; Luke 4.1-13)

¹² At once God's Spirit made Jesus go into the desert. ¹³ He stayed there for 40 days while Satan tested him. Jesus was with the wild animals, but angels took care of him.

Jesus Begins His Work

(Matthew 4.12-17; Luke 4.14,15)

¹⁴ After John was arrested, Jesus went to Galilee and told the good news that comes from God.^{[c] 15 (E)} He said, “The time has come! God's kingdom will soon be here.^[d] Turn back to God and believe the good news!”

Jesus Chooses Four Fishermen

(Matthew 4.18-22; Luke 5.1-11)

¹⁶ As Jesus was walking along the shore of Lake Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew. They were fishermen and were casting their nets into the lake. ¹⁷ Jesus said to them, “Follow me! I will teach you how to bring in people instead of fish.” ¹⁸ Right then the two brothers dropped their nets and went with him.

¹⁹ Jesus walked on and soon saw James and John, the sons of Zebedee. They were in a boat, mending their nets. ²⁰ At once Jesus asked them to come with him. They left their father in the boat with the hired workers and went with him.

A Man with an Evil Spirit

(Luke 4.31-37)

²¹ Jesus and his disciples went to the town of Capernaum. Then on the next Sabbath he went into the synagogue and started teaching. ^22 (F) Everyone was amazed at his teaching. He taught with authority, and not like the teachers of the Law of Moses.