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.”

A Friend Comes at Midnight

⁵ And He said to them, “Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; ⁶ for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; ⁷ and he will answer from within and say, ‘Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you’? ⁸ I say to you, ^(A)though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.

Keep Asking, Seeking, Knocking^(B)

^9 (C)“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; ^(D)seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. ¹⁰ For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. ^11 (E)If a son asks for ^[a]bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? ¹² Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? ¹³ If you then, being evil, know how to give ^(F)good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”

A House Divided Cannot Stand^(G)

^14 (H)And He was casting out a demon, and it was mute. So it was, when the demon had gone out, that the mute spoke; and the multitudes marveled. ¹⁵ But some of them said, ^(I)“He casts out demons by ^[b]Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.”

¹⁶ Others, testing Him, ^(J)sought from Him a sign from heaven. ^17 (K)But ^(L)He, knowing their thoughts, said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falls. ¹⁸ If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? Because you say I cast out demons by Beelzebub. ¹⁹ And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. ²⁰ But if I cast out demons ^(M)with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. ^21 (N)When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace. ²² But ^(O)when a stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted, and divides his ^[c]spoils. ^23 (P)He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.

An Unclean Spirit Returns^(Q)

^24 (R)“When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ ²⁵ And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order. ²⁶ Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and ^(S)the last state of that man is worse than the first.”

Keeping the Word

²⁷ And it happened, as He spoke these things, that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, ^(T)“Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!”

²⁸ But He said, ^(U)“More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

Seeking a Sign^(V)

^29 (W)And while the crowds were thickly gathered together, He began to say, “This is an evil generation. It seeks a ^(X)sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah ^[d]the prophet. ³⁰ For as ^(Y)Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so also the Son of Man will be to this generation. ^31 (Z)The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a ^(AA)greater than Solomon is here. ³² The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for ^(AB)they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here.