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17 The Eternal One spoke to Moses regarding animals acceptable for sacrifice.
Eternal One: 18 Go, talk with Aaron, his sons, and all the Israelites. Tell them that when any Israelite or outsider living among you brings an offering—whether accompanying a vow or out of free will—and offers it to Me as a burnt offering, 19 he must offer an unblemished male from the bulls, the sheep, or the goats in order to be accepted. 20 You should not offer any animals that are diseased, weak, or injured or have any defects. Such a sacrifice is not acceptable for you. 21 Also when a man offers a sacrifice as a peace offering to Me from the herd or flock—whether he is fulfilling a vow or out of free will—he must offer a perfect, unblemished offering in order to be accepted. 22 Do not offer any animals that are blind, have broken bones, are deformed, have open wounds, a skin disease, or scabs. Do not offer such a sacrifice by fire on the altar to Me. 23 You are allowed to offer an ox or a lamb with a limb that is too long or too short as long as it is a freewill offering, but not if it is an offering that accompanies a vow. 24 You are not to offer any animal with bruised, crushed, torn, or removed testicles as a sacrifice to Me, and you will not offer these blemished animals anywhere in your land. 25 You are not allowed to accept such an animal as a gift from a foreigner and then offer it as food for your God, because the animal is not whole and carries the foreigner’s corruption. Such a sacrifice is not acceptable for you.
26 The Eternal One continued speaking to Moses.
Eternal One: 27 Any time an ox or sheep or goat is born, you are to leave it with its mother for seven days. On the eighth day, the newborn is old enough to be sacrificed to Me as a fire-offering. 28 But do not sacrifice both the newborn ox or sheep and its mother on the same day.
That which gives life, whether human or animal mother, and that which is offered on behalf of life, whether human or animal offspring, should not be disrespected, blurred, or confused.
29 When you slaughter a thanksgiving sacrifice to Me, do it in such a way that you will be accepted. 30 Consume it on the same day it is slaughtered; do not leave any for the next day. I am the Eternal One.
31 This is how you must keep and follow My commands. I am the Eternal One.
32 You must not do anything that desecrates My sacred name and ruins My reputation so that the people of Israel will acknowledge that I am holy, for I am the Eternal One who consecrates you. 33 I am the One who led you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the Eternal One.
23 The Eternal One spoke to Moses regarding the holy days.
Eternal One: 2 Go, talk to the Israelites. Tell them that I have appointed certain feasts to be celebrated. You are to honor these times and declare them as sacred assemblies.
3 You have six days to do your ordinary work; but when the seventh day arrives, it is a Sabbath and must be a day of complete rest, a time for sacred assembly. No work is allowed. Wherever you live, celebrate the Sabbath in My honor.
4 Here are times I have appointed for sacred assemblies; you are to celebrate these feasts and declare them publicly at their appointed times. 5 In the spring on the fourteenth day of the first month, My Passover begins at first light. 6 When the fifteenth day arrives, you are to celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread in My honor.
For the next seven days, the only bread you are allowed to eat is unleavened bread. 7 On the first day of the feast, I want you to gather for a sacred assembly; you are not allowed to do any ordinary work. 8 On each of the seven days of the feast, present a fire-offering to Me. When the seventh day arrives, hold a sacred assembly; you are not allowed to do any ordinary work.
9 The Eternal One addressed Moses.
Eternal One: 10 Go, talk with the Israelites, and tell them that when you are settled in the land I am going to give you, and when you harvest there, you are to gather a bundle of stalks from the firstfruits of the barley harvest and present them to the priest. 11 On the day after the Sabbath, the priest will raise up the bundle of stalks and wave them before Me so that you will be accepted. 12 Also, on the day that the stalks are waved, you must present an unblemished, year-old male lamb to Me as a burnt offering. 13 The grain offering you bring with it is to be four quarts of the finest flour mixed with oil. The smoke of the fire-offering will rise and be a pleasant aroma to Me. Present it along with a drink offering of 2½ pints of wine. 14 Do not consume any bread, roasted grain, or any of the new harvest until this day when you have presented the offering to Me, your God. This directive stands for all time throughout your generations regardless of where you live.
15-16 From the day after the Sabbath when you presented the bundled stalks—the firstfruits of the barley harvest—as a wave offering to Me, count off seven whole weeks. Count to the day after the seventh Sabbath, 50 days; then I want you to bring a fresh grain offering to Me. 17 Bring two loaves of bread from wherever you live as a wave offering. The loaves are to be made with yeast from four quarts of the finest flour as the firstfruits to Me. 18 With the bread, I want you to offer seven unblemished, year-old male lambs, a bull from the herd, and two rams. These will serve as a burnt offering to Me, along with their grain offering and drink offerings; the smoke of this fire-offering will rise and be a pleasant aroma to Me. 19 You must also present one male goat as a purification offering and two year-old male lambs as a peace offering. 20 The priest will then lift them up along with the bread of the firstfruits and the two lambs as a wave offering before Me. These offerings, which are sacred to Me, will become the property of the priest. 21 On this day, you will make a proclamation and hold a sacred assembly. Refrain from doing any ordinary work. This directive stands for all time throughout your generations regardless of where you live.
22 Whenever you harvest the crops in your land, do not harvest all the way to the edges of the fields or pick up what was overlooked during harvest. Leave them for the poor and the strangers living with you. I am the Eternal your God.
23 The Eternal One spoke to Moses.
Eternal One: 24 Go, talk with the Israelites, and tell them to observe a day of Sabbath rest in the autumn on the first day of the seventh month. Commemorate this day and call together a sacred assembly by sounding the trumpets. 25 You must not do any ordinary work that day, but you are to bring a fire-offering to Me.
26 The Eternal One spoke to Moses regarding the Day of Atonement.
Eternal One: 27 The tenth day of the seventh month is set aside as the Day of Atonement. On that day, you must call together the people for a sacred assembly, humble and discipline yourselves by fasting, and bring a fire-offering to Me. 28 Refrain from doing any work on the Day of Atonement, for it is to be a day when you make offerings before Me, your God, that cover your sins. 29 If anyone does not humble and discipline himself on this day, he must be cut off from the community. 30 If anyone from your community works on this day, I will destroy him from the midst of the community. 31 You must not do any of the work you normally do. This directive stands for all time throughout your generations regardless of where you live. 32 This is to be a Sabbath Day, a day of complete rest, a day when you humble and discipline yourselves. When the ninth day of the month arrives, you are to honor this Sabbath from dusk till dusk.
Sin causes damage in ways we do not easily recognize. It damages our relationship with God, other people, and the rest of creation. But we should not forget that sin damages us too. We are damaged goods. The Day of Atonement provides the people of Israel with a regular opportunity to recognize how broken and flawed they are, to repent and turn to God, and to seek His healing and forgiveness.
33 The Eternal One said to Moses.
Eternal One: 34 Go, talk with the Israelites and tell them that when the fifteenth day of the seventh month arrives, they must celebrate the Feast of Booths to Me for seven days.
The Feast of Booths takes place after the fall harvest is in and the people can take some time off. In this feast, God’s people are called to remember how He provided for them, particularly how He provided for them when they wandered in the desert, living in tents or booths, for 40 years.
Eternal One: 35 The first day is to be a day devoted to sacred assembly, so refrain from doing any ordinary work. 36 Then for seven days, I want you to bring a fire-offering to Me. When the eighth day arrives, hold another sacred assembly and bring another fire-offering to Me. This is to be a festive gathering, and no one is allowed to do any of their normal work.
37 So these are the feasts that I have appointed. At these times, you are to call the people together for a sacred assembly and bring fire-offerings to Me—burnt offerings, grain offerings, sacrifices, and drink offerings—each day will have its own offering. 38 These feasts and their offerings are in addition to My Sabbaths and other prescribed offerings, offerings accompanying a vow or a freewill offering.
39 When the fifteenth day of the seventh month arrives, after you have harvested the crops from the land, I want you to celebrate this feast of booths for seven days. Observe a day of complete rest on the first day and the eighth day. 40-41 On the first day, gather some branches from the beautiful trees in the area: palm fronds, limbs thick with leaves, and branches from the river willow. Celebrate and feast before Me, your God, for seven days. This directive stands for all time throughout your generations; celebrate it every year in the seventh month. 42 All native-born Israelites are to live in booths for seven days. 43 I want you to do this so that all present and future generations of your people remember that I sheltered the Israelites in booths like these after I led them out of Egypt. I am the Eternal One, your God.
Temporary shelters like these were used during harvest to protect their fields from animals and thieves.
44 Moses spoke to the Israelites about the Eternal One’s appointed feasts.
The father has enough faith to bring his son to Jesus for healing, but he asks hesitantly whether there is anything Jesus can do. In his desperation, the father recognizes the limits of his faith. Perhaps that very desperation is enough because Jesus immediately heals his son.
Having successfully healed many demon-possessed people when Jesus sent them out earlier, the disciples are at a loss to know why they are completely unable to heal this little boy. Jesus’ reply is cryptic and surprising: “That sort of powerful spirit is only conquered with much prayer [and fasting].” It seems that although the disciples have faith that they can heal the boy, they are spiritually unprepared for the depth of evil residing in the world. They need to be saturated in the presence of God to face the challenge.
30 When they left that place, they passed secretly through Galilee.
Jesus (to the disciples as they traveled): 31 The Son of Man will be delivered into the hands of the people, and they will kill Him. And after He is killed, He will rise on the third day.
32 But again they did not understand His meaning, and they were afraid to ask Him for an explanation.
33 At last, they came to Capernaum where they gathered in a house.
Jesus: What was it I heard you arguing about along the way?
34 They looked down at the floor and wouldn’t answer, for they had been arguing among themselves about who was the greatest of Jesus’ disciples.
It is only natural for the disciples to wonder which of them will be His right-hand man. Even the three disciples who have just seen Jesus’ glory revealed in the transfiguration cannot resist the attraction of honor. After all, who has a better claim than they do to being the greatest of Jesus’ disciples?
Fortunately Jesus overhears what is said and is quick to respond in mercy to correct their mistake. Greatness in His eyes doesn’t consist of seeing wonders or performing miracles or even fasting and praying. Instead, greatness is about humility and service. These are the heart of the kingdom of heaven.
35 He sat down with the twelve to teach them.
Jesus: Whoever wants to be first must be last, and whoever wants to be the greatest must be the servant of all.
36 He then called forward a child, set the child in the middle of them, and took the child in His arms.
Jesus: 37 Whoever welcomes a child like this in My name welcomes Me; and whoever welcomes Me is welcoming not Me, but the One who sent Me.
John (to Jesus): 38 Master, we saw another man casting out unclean spirits in Your name, but he was not one of our group. So we told him to stop what he was doing.
Jesus: 39 You shouldn’t have said that. Anyone using My name to do a miracle cannot turn quickly to speak evil of Me. 40 Anyone who isn’t against us is for us. 41 The truth of the matter is this: anyone who gives you a cup of cool water to drink because you carry the name of your Anointed One will be rewarded.
42 But if anyone turns even the smallest of My followers away from Me, it would be better for him if someone had hung a millstone around his neck and flung him into the deepest part of the sea.
43 If your hand turns you away from the things of God, then you should cut it off. It’s better to come into eternal life maimed than to have two hands and be flung into hell— [44 where the worm will not die and the fire will not be smothered.][a]
45 If your foot trips you on the path, you should cut it off. It’s better to come into eternal life crawling than to have two feet and be flung into hell— [46 where the worm will not die and the fire will not be smothered.][b]
47 And if your eye keeps you from seeing clearly, then you should pull it out. It’s better to come into the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be flung into hell, 48 where the worm will not die and the fire will not be smothered.[c] 49 Everyone will be salted with fire[, and every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt].[d] 50 Salt is a good thing; but if it has lost its zest, how can it be seasoned again? You should have salt within yourselves and peace with one another.
10 From there Jesus traveled to Judea and beyond the Jordan River; He taught the crowds who gathered as was His custom.
2 Some Pharisees came to Him to test Him on His adherence to the law of Moses.
Pharisees: Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?
Jesus: 3 What did Moses say to you?
Pharisees: 4 Moses permitted us to write a certificate of dismissal and divorce her.[e]
Jesus: 5 Moses gave you this law as a concession because of the hardness of your hearts. 6 But truly, God created humans male and female in the beginning.[f] 7 As it is written in the Hebrew Scriptures, “For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother [to marry his wife],[g] 8 and the two of them will become one flesh and blood.”[h] So they are no longer two people, but one. 9 What God has joined together in this way, no one may sever.
10 In the privacy of their dwelling that evening, the disciples asked Him about this teaching, 11 and He went even further.
Jesus: If any husband divorces his wife and then marries another woman, he commits adultery against her. 12 And if a wife should divorce her husband and marry another, then she commits adultery against him.
Psalm 44
For the worship leader. A contemplative song[a] of the sons of Korah.
1 With our own ears, O God, we have heard the stories
our ancestors recited of Your deeds in their days, days long past—
how You saved the day.
2 With a powerful hand, You drove the nations from this land,
but then You planted our parents here.
You fought for us against people of this land;
You set our parents free to enjoy its goodness.
3 They did not win the land with their swords.
It wasn’t their strength that won them victory.
It was Your strength—Your right hand, Your arm,
and the light of Your presence that gave them success,
for You loved them.
4 You are my King, my God!
You ordained victories for Jacob and his people!
5 You are our victory, pushing back the enemy;
at the sound of Your name, we crush the opposition.
6 I don’t trust in my weapons
or in my strength to win me victory.
7 But You rescue us from our foes;
You shame our enemies.
8 We shout Your name all day long;
we will praise Your name forever!
[pause][b]
19 The more you talk, the more likely you will cross the line and say the wrong thing;
but if you are wise, you’ll speak less and with restraint.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.