The Daily Audio Bible
Acceptable Offerings for the Israelites
17 The Lord told Moses 18 to speak to Aaron and his sons and the whole people of Israel and tell them this:
Whenever anyone of the house of Israel or any of the aliens residing in Israel presents their offerings—whether it is any kind of offering to fulfill a vow or any kind of voluntary[a] offering, which may be presented to the Lord as a burnt offering— 19 in order for the offering to be accepted it must be a male without blemish, from the cattle or the sheep or the goats. 20 You shall not present any animal with a defect, because it will not be accepted on your behalf.
21 If anyone presents a sacrifice as a fellowship offering to the Lord from the herd or the flock to fulfill a vow or as a voluntary offering, it must be without blemish for it to be accepted on your behalf. There must not be any defect in it. 22 Any animal that is blind, injured, or maimed, with a growth in the eye, a festering boil, or sores—these you shall not present to the Lord. You shall not put any of these on the altar as an offering made by fire to the Lord. 23 You may, however, make a voluntary offering with a head of cattle or with a sheep or goat that has a long or short leg, but it will not be accepted as an offering to fulfill a vow. 24 You shall not present to the Lord any animal that has its testicles bruised or crushed or torn out or cut off. You shall not do this in your land. 25 You shall not present any of these animals from a foreigner as the food of your God. Because they are flawed, with a defect in them, they will not be accepted on your behalf.
26 Then the Lord told Moses this:
27 When a calf or a sheep or a goat is born, it shall remain with its mother for seven days. From the eighth day on, it will be acceptable as an offering that is a gift made by fire to the Lord. 28 But you shall not slaughter a cow or a ewe with her young on the same day.
29 When you offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Lord, you shall sacrifice it so that you will be accepted. 30 It must be eaten on the same day. You shall not leave any of it over until the morning. I am the Lord.
31 So you shall keep my commandments by doing them. I am the Lord. 32 Therefore you shall not defile my holy name, so that I may be honored as holy among the Israelites. I am the Lord, who sets you apart as holy, 33 who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord.
The Calendar of Holy Times
23 The Lord told Moses 2 to speak to the Israelites and to tell them this:
These are the appointed times of the Lord, which you shall proclaim as holy convocations. These are my appointed times:
The Sabbath
3 On six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there shall be a sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation. You shall not do any work. It shall be a sabbath to the Lord in all the places you live.
4 These are the appointed times of the Lord, the holy convocations which you shall proclaim at their appointed times.
The Festival of Passover
5 The first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight, is the Lord’s Passover, 6 and the fifteenth day of this month is the Festival of Unleavened Bread for the Lord. You shall eat unleavened bread for seven days. 7 On the first day a holy convocation is to be proclaimed for you. You shall not do any work in your regular occupation. 8 You shall present an offering by fire to the Lord for seven days. The seventh day shall be proclaimed as a holy convocation. You shall not do any work for your regular occupation.
The Festival of Firstfruits
9 The Lord told Moses 10 to speak to the people of Israel and tell them this:
When you enter the land that I am giving to you and you reap its harvest, and when you bring the first sheaf of your harvest to the priest 11 so that he may wave the sheaf before the Lord so that you will be accepted, the priest shall wave it on the day after the Sabbath. 12 On the day that you wave the sheaf, you shall offer as a burnt offering to the Lord a lamb without blemish, one year old. 13 The grain offering accompanying it is to be four quarts[b] of fine wheat flour mixed with oil, a gift to the Lord, a pleasing aroma. The drink offering accompanying it shall be a quart[c] of wine. 14 You shall not eat any of this year’s bread or roasted grain or fresh ears until this very day, until you have brought the offering of your God. This is a permanent regulation throughout your generations in all the places you live.
The Festival of Weeks or Pentecost
15 Then from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you bring the sheaf to be waved, you shall count off seven weeks for yourselves. They must be complete weeks. 16 You shall count fifty days, until you reach the day after the seventh Sabbath. Then you shall present an offering of new grain to the Lord. 17 From the places where you live you shall bring two loaves of bread as a wave offering. They shall be made of four quarts of fine wheat flour, baked with yeast, as first ripe produce for the Lord.
18 Then with the bread you shall present seven lambs without blemish, each of them one year old, one young bull from the herd, and two rams—they shall be a whole burnt offering for the Lord, together with their grain offerings and their drink offerings, an offering made by fire, with a pleasing aroma to the Lord. 19 You shall also present the sin offering with one male goat and the fellowship offering with two one-year-old male lambs. 20 The priest shall wave them, together with the bread from the first ripe produce, as a wave offering before the Lord, in addition to the two lambs. They shall be holy to the Lord for the priest.
21 On this very same day you shall make a proclamation. A holy convocation will be proclaimed for you. You shall do no work in your regular occupation. This is a permanent regulation in all the places you live throughout your generations.
22 When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not completely reap the edges of your field or gather the dropped stalks from your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the resident alien. I am the Lord your God.
The Festival of the Ram’s Horn[d]
23 The Lord told Moses 24 to speak to the people of Israel:
In the seventh month, on the first of the month, you shall have a complete rest, a memorial celebration with loud blasts of the ram’s horn, proclaimed as a holy convocation. 25 You shall not do any work in your regular occupation, and you shall present a gift made by fire to the Lord.
The Day of Atonement
26 The Lord spoke to Moses:
27 It is the tenth day of this seventh month that is the Day of Atonement. It shall be proclaimed as a holy convocation for you. You shall humble yourselves,[e] and you shall present an offering made by fire to the Lord. 28 You shall not do any work on this special day,[f] because it is the Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the Lord your God. 29 Indeed, anyone who does not humble himself on this special day will be cut off from his people. 30 Anyone who does any work on this very special day, I will exterminate from the midst of his people. 31 You shall do no work. This is a permanent regulation throughout your generations in all your places where you live. 32 It is a sabbath of complete rest for you. You shall humble yourselves on the ninth day of the month at evening. From that evening until the next evening, you shall observe a sabbath rest.
The Festival of Shelters
33 The Lord told Moses 34 to tell the people of Israel this:
Beginning on the fifteenth day of this seventh month, celebrate the Festival of Shelters[g] for seven days for the Lord. 35 On the first day proclaim a holy convocation. You shall not do any work for your regular occupation. 36 For seven days you shall bring an offering made by fire to the Lord. On the eighth day proclaim a holy convocation for yourselves, and you shall present an offering made by fire to the Lord. This is a closing ceremony. You shall not do any work for your regular occupation.
37 These are the appointed times of the Lord, which you shall proclaim as holy convocations for the presentation of offerings made by fire to the Lord—burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings as commanded for each day. 38 Offer these in addition to the Sabbath offerings of the Lord, in addition to your personal wave offerings, in addition to all your offerings to fulfill a vow, and in addition to all your voluntary[h] offerings that you give to the Lord.
39 Beginning exactly on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land, when you go to celebrate the festival of the Lord for seven days as a pilgrim, there shall be a complete sabbath rest on the first day and a complete sabbath rest on the eighth day. 40 On the first day you shall select for yourselves fruit from splendid trees, branches of palm trees, boughs from leafy trees, and willows from by the stream—and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. 41 Celebrate the festival for the Lord as a pilgrim for seven days each year. This is a permanent regulation throughout your generations. In the seventh month you shall celebrate the festival as a pilgrim. 42 You shall live in temporary shelters for seven days—every native-born person in Israel shall live in shelters— 43 so that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel live in shelters when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.
44 That is what Moses said about the appointed times of the Lord to the people of Israel.
Jesus Predicts His Death and Resurrection Again
30 They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know this, 31 because he was teaching his disciples. He told them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill him. But three days after he is killed, he will rise.”
32 But they did not understand the statement and were afraid to ask him about it.
Who Is the Greatest?
33 They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” 34 But they remained silent, because on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. 35 Jesus sat down, called the Twelve, and said to them, “If anyone wants to be first, he will be the last of all and the servant of all.” 36 Then he took a little child and placed him in their midst. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, 37 “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me. And whoever welcomes me, welcomes not just me but also him who sent me.”
Whoever Is Not Against Us Is for Us
38 John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name. We tried to stop him, because he was not following us.”
39 But Jesus said, “Do not try to stop him, because no one who does a miracle in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil about me. 40 Whoever is not against us is for us. 41 Amen I tell you: Whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in my name, because you belong to Christ, will certainly not lose his reward.
Do Not Cause Little Believers to Fall Into Sin
42 “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to fall into sin,[a] it would be better for him if he were thrown into the sea with a large millstone hung around his neck. 43 If your hand causes you to fall into sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed, than to have two hands and go into hell,[b] into the unquenchable fire, 44 ‘where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.’[c] 45 If your foot causes you to fall into sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame, than to have two feet and be thrown into hell,[d] 46 ‘where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.’ 47 If your eye causes you to fall into sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell,[e] 48 ‘where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.’ 49 For everyone will be salted with fire. 50 Salt is good. But if the salt loses its flavor, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”
Marriage and Divorce
10 Jesus got up and went to the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. Crowds gathered around him again and, as he usually did, he taught them. 2 Some Pharisees came to test him and asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”
3 He replied, “What did Moses command you?”
4 They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.”[f]
5 But Jesus told them, “He wrote this command for you because of your hard hearts. 6 But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female.[g] 7 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, 8 and the two will become one flesh.[h] So they are no longer two but one flesh. 9 Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
10 In the house his disciples asked him about this again. 11 He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her. 12 If she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”
Psalm 44
Past Victory—Present Defeat
Heading
For the choir director. By the Sons of Korah. A maskil.
Past Victory
1 God, our ears have heard.
Our fathers have told us the work you performed
in their days, in days long ago.
2 By your hand you drove out the nations,
but you planted your people.
You crushed the peoples,
but you sent your people forward.
3 For it was not by their sword
that they took possession of the land.
It was not their arm that saved them.
It was your right hand and your arm,
and the light from your face,
because you took pleasure in them.
Present Trust
4 You are the one who is my King, O God.
Command victories for Jacob.
5 Through you we drive back our foes.
Through your name we trample our adversaries.
6 For I do not trust in my bow,
and my sword does not save me.
7 But you save us from our foes,
and you put those who hate us to shame.
8 In God we make our boast all day,
and we will praise your name forever. Interlude
19 When there are many words, sin never stops,[a]
but a person who restrains his lips acts wisely.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.