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4 The Eternal One then spoke to Moses.
Eternal One: 2 Moses, go, talk with the Israelites, and tell them that if someone unwittingly commits a sin that violates any of the directives I have given, this is what you should do.
Sin is serious business; it destroys one’s relationship with God and can even endanger entire communities. So sin must be dealt with seriously. God provides a process whereby sin may be forgiven and guilt may be set aside. It begins with admitting you are wrong and then following the requisite sacrifices. But note: these sacrifices only atone for sins committed unwittingly. There is no sacrifice offered for sins committed deliberately.
Eternal One: 3 If the person anointed as priest commits a sin, he brings guilt on the people and they suffer the consequences. So the priest must offer the most valuable animal—an unblemished, young bull—to Me as a purification offering for sin. 4 He must bring the bull to the entrance of the congregation tent, place his hand on the bull’s head, and slaughter it in My presence. 5 The anointed priest must then carry some of the bull’s blood inside the congregation tent. 6 While in the tent, he is to dip his finger into the blood and sprinkle it seven times before Me in front of the veil of the sanctuary. 7 He must then approach the altar of fragrant incense and place some of the blood on its horns before Me. He must then pour the rest of the bull’s blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering located near the entrance of the congregation tent. 8 The priest must remove all of the fat from the bull being offered as a purification offering for sin, the fat covering and surrounding the organs, 9 the two kidneys and the fat on them near the loins, and the lobe of the liver (which must be removed with the kidneys). 10 He should remove these portions in the same manner that they are removed from the ox sacrificed as a peace offering. The priest should then offer them on the altar of burnt offering. 11 As for the bull’s skin and the rest of its meat, head, legs, intestines, and excrement— 12 basically, the rest of the bull’s body—the priest must move it to a ritually clean space where ashes are dumped outside the community, and he must burn it there on the wood-fire. It must be burned in the place where the ashes are dumped.
This procedure makes sure that the priest does not benefit from his own sins. Nothing is left over from the sacrifice for him to consume and enjoy.
13 If the entire community of Israel unintentionally commits a sin and, for a time at least, the sin goes unnoticed by the community, and they have violated any one of the directives I gave them, and they are guilty, 14 then later when the sin is realized, the community must offer a young bull as a purification offering for sin. They must bring the bull to the entrance of the congregation tent. 15 The community elders are to place their hands on the bull’s head and then slaughter the bull in My presence. 16 The one anointed as high priest must then carry some of the bull’s blood into the congregation tent, 17 where he is to dip his finger into the blood and sprinkle it seven times in My presence in front of the veil of the sanctuary. 18 The priest must also approach the altar, which is before Me in the congregation tent, and place some of the blood on its horns. He is to pour the rest of the blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering located at the entrance to the congregation tent. 19 The priest must remove all the bull’s fat and offer it up in smoke on the altar. 20 He is to do the same thing with this bull that he did with the bull of the purification offering for sin. This is how the priest will cover the sin of the community of Israel, and the entire community will be forgiven. 21 Then the priest must carry the rest of the bull’s body outside the camp and burn it in the same manner that he burned the first purification-offering bull. This is the purification offering for sin when the entire community is involved.
22-23 The following are instructions for what to do when a leader unwittingly commits a sin by violating any of My directives: When he realizes his guilt or the sin he committed is brought to his attention, then he must bring an unblemished male goat as his offering.
24 He is to place his hand on the head of the goat and slaughter it in the same spot where the burnt offerings are slaughtered in My presence. The goat is to be presented as a purification offering for sin. 25 The officiating priest must dip his finger into the blood of the sin offering, put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and then pour the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. 26 The priest is to offer up all of its fat as smoke in the same way that the fat of the peace offering is offered up. This is how the priest will cover the leader’s sin, and the leader will be forgiven.
27-28 If a common person among you unwittingly commits a sin by violating any of My directives, once he realizes his guilt or the sin he committed is brought to his attention, then he should offer an unblemished female goat for his wrong. 29 He must place his hand on the head of the purification offering for sin and slaughter it in the same spot where the burnt offerings are slaughtered. 30 The priest will then dip his finger in some of its blood, put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and then pour the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. 31 The priest is then to remove its fat in the same manner that the fat is removed from the peace offerings. The priest must offer up the fat on the altar, and the smoke of the sacrifice will rise and be a pleasant aroma to Me. This is how the priest will cover the sins of common people and how they will be forgiven.
32 If a person presents a lamb for the purification offering for sin, then he must bring an unblemished female. 33 He is to place his hand on the lamb’s head and slaughter it as a purification offering for sin in the same spot where the burnt offerings are slaughtered. 34 The priest must then dip his finger into the blood of the purification offering for sin, put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and then pour the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. 35 The priest is to remove all of its fat in the same manner that the fat is removed from the sacrifice of the peace offerings, and the priest will offer it up on the altar on top of the fire-offering to Me. This is how the priest will make atonement for the sin this person committed, and this is how he will be forgiven.
5 Eternal One: When anyone sins by hearing a public call to testify about a matter he has seen or knows something about, yet he does not speak up, then he is considered guilty and must be punished. 2 If anyone has physical contact with some impure thing such as the carcass of a ritually unclean wild animal, domestic animal, or even an insect—even if he is unaware of the incident—he has become ritually unclean and must accept the consequences. 3 If anyone has physical contact with some kind of human impurity, regardless of the form of impurity it is—even if he was unaware of it at the time—once he realizes it, he must accept the consequences. 4 If anyone speaks a careless vow to do something bad or something good or any careless vow for that matter—even if he was unaware of it at the time—once he realizes what he has done, he must accept the consequences. 5 Regarding any of these situations, when the guilty party realizes the offense, he must confess it. 6 He must present to Me an offering for his guilt as a remedy for the sin he has committed. This purification offering for sin must be a female lamb or goat from the flock. The priest will make atonement for the guilty person’s sin.
These are some cases where a purification offering for sin is required. It is important to note that sacrifice is not some magical cure for sin or its consequences. Before you come to God through the sacrifice, you must realize the error of your ways and confess it. Confession has always been act one of restoration.
Eternal One: 7 But if the guilty person is poor and cannot afford to offer a lamb, then he must bring to Me two turtledoves or two pigeons as a purification offering for sin. One of these will act as the purification offering and the other will be a burnt offering. 8 The guilty person must take them to the priest, and the priest will offer the purification offering for sin first. He will wring the bird’s neck but not separate its head from its body. 9 He will sprinkle some of its blood on the side of the altar and drain the remaining blood out at the base of the altar. This will be the ritual for the purification offering for sin. 10 Then the priest will conduct the ritual for the second sacrifice, the burnt offering, in accordance with the regulations. The priest is to make atonement to cover the sin of the guilty, and the guilty will be forgiven.
11 If a person cannot afford to offer two turtledoves or two young pigeons, he must offer four pints of his finest flour as the purification offering for sin. He should not mix it with oil or frankincense because it is an offering for the purification of sin. 12 He will give it to the priest, and the priest will take a handful of the flour as a memorial portion and offer it up as smoke along with the other fire-offerings presented to Me. The flour is a purification offering for sin. 13 This is how the priest will make atonement to cover the sin of anyone guilty of these things, and the guilty will be forgiven. The leftover flour belongs to the priest as in the grain offering.
14 The Eternal One then told Moses about the guilt offering.
Eternal One: 15 If anyone violates his covenant duties and unwittingly commits a sin against any of My sacred objects, then that person must bring Me an unblemished ram from the flock or its value in silver (according to the sanctuary standards) for a guilt offering.
A guilt offering provides a remedy for offenses when there is some type of financial restitution with 20 percent interest.
16 The guilty person must offer restitution for the wrong he has committed against the sacred thing, add ⅕ of its value, and then give it to the priest. The priest will then make atonement for him by offering the ram to cover his guilt; and the guilty will be forgiven.
17 If anyone commits a sin by violating the directives I have given you—even if he was unaware of it—once he realizes it, he bears the guilt and must still accept the consequences. 18 He must bring to the priest an unblemished ram from the flock or its equivalent value as a guilt offering. The priest will then make atonement to cover the guilty person’s wrong, which he unwittingly committed, and the guilty will be forgiven. 19 This is a guilt offering because the person was guilty in My eyes.
To some who believe wholeheartedly in God’s laws, Jesus is a troublemaker, a mere man who has a bad habit of making statements that take away from the honor due to the one true God. The “scribes” who make these kinds of accusations against Jesus are usually connected to the Pharisees (a Jewish sect popular with the people, mostly middle class, and religiously strict when it comes to following God’s laws) or the Sadducees (a smaller Jewish sect made up of priests and aristocrats from Jerusalem). While the two groups often clash with each other politically and theologically, they do find common ground—and sometimes even work together—in opposing Jesus.
13 Another time Jesus was out walking alongside the Sea of Galilee teaching the gathering crowd as He went. 14 He saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the booth where he collected taxes.
Jesus (calling out to him): Follow Me.
Levi left the booth and went along with Him.
Jesus’ invitation to follow Him, like His invitations to all the disciples, involves a lot more than joining the caravan; Jesus’ invitation is for sinners to change their ways of life. Jesus makes it clear, despite the criticisms of some observers, that this invitation is indeed open to all—especially to the sinners who need it most. Jesus grants to those who choose Him not just companionship and forgiveness but the ability to truly receive a new identity and live a new life.
15 At Levi’s house, many tax collectors and other sinners—Jews who did not keep the strict purity laws of the Jewish holy texts—were dining with Jesus and His disciples. Jesus had attracted such a large following that all kinds of people surrounded Him. 16 When the Pharisees’ scribes saw who shared the table with Jesus, they were quick to criticize:
Scribes (to His disciples): If your master is such a righteous person, then why does He eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners, the worst among us?
17 Jesus heard them.
Jesus (to the scribes): People who have their health don’t need to see a doctor. Only those who are sick do. I’m not here to call those already in good standing with God; I’m here to call sinners to turn back to Him.[a]
18 The disciples of John the Baptist and the Pharisees made a practice of fasting.
Some Jews fast twice a week and pray three times daily, but Jesus has a different set of practices for His followers. Some of the pious are disturbed by this.
Some People (to Jesus): Why is it that John’s followers and the Pharisees’ followers fast, but Your disciples are eating and drinking like it was any other day?
Jesus: 19 Guests at the wedding can’t fast when the bridegroom is with them. It would be wrong to do anything but feast. 20 When the bridegroom is snatched away from them, then the time will come to fast and mourn.
21 These are new things I’m teaching, and they can’t be reconciled with old habits. Nobody would ever use a piece of new cloth to patch an old garment because when the patch shrinks, it pulls away and makes the tear even worse. 22 And nobody puts new, unfermented wine into old wineskins because if he does, the wine will burst the skins; they would lose both the wineskins and the wine. No, the only appropriate thing is to put new wine into new wineskins.
23 One Sabbath Jesus and His disciples were walking through a field of grain; as they walked, His disciples grew hungry. They began to pull from the stalks and eat.
24 The Pharisees confronted Him.
Pharisees: Did You see that? Why are Your disciples doing what our law forbids on the Sabbath?
Jesus (turning toward the Pharisees): 25 Do you remember the story about what King David and his followers did when they were hungry and had nothing to eat?
They said nothing, so He continued.
Jesus: 26 David went into the house of God, when Abiathar was the high priest, and ate the bread that was consecrated to God. Now our laws say no one but the priests can eat that holy bread; but when David was hungry, he ate and also shared the bread with those who followed him.[b]
27 The Sabbath was made for the needs of human beings, and not the other way around. 28 So the Son of Man is Lord even over the Sabbath.
3 On the Sabbath, Jesus had come into a synagogue where He saw a man with a withered hand.
2 The Pharisees held their breath: would Jesus cure this man on the Sabbath, right there in front of everyone? If so, they could charge Him with breaking the Sabbath law. 3 Jesus knew their hearts. He called to the man with the withered hand.
Jesus: Come to Me.
4 Then He turned to the Pharisees with a question.
Jesus: Do our laws tell us to do good or evil on the Sabbath? To save life, or to snuff it out?
They remained silent.
5 Jesus was furious as He looked out over the crowd, and He was grieved by their hard hearts.
How can anyone care so much about the words of the law and so little about the spirit of it?
Jesus (to the man with the withered hand): So be it. Stretch out your hand.
The man stretched forth his hand; and as he did, it was completely healed. 6 The Pharisees went directly from the synagogue to consult with the supporters of Herod, the Romans’ puppet ruler, about how they could get rid of this dangerous dreamer.
Psalm 36
For the worship leader. A song of David, the Eternal’s servant.
1 Sin speaks in the depths of the soul
of those who oppose God; they listen closely to its urgings.
You’ll never see the fear of God
in their eyes,
2 For they flatter themselves—
convinced their sin will remain secret, undiscovered, and so unhated.
3 They speak words of evil and deceit.
Wisdom and goodness, they deserted long ago.
4 Even as they sleep, they are plotting mischief.
They journey along a path far from anything good,
gravitating to trouble, welcoming evil.
5 Your love, O Eternal One, towers high into the heavens.
Even the skies are lower than Your faithfulness.
6 Your justice is like the majestic mountains.
Your judgments are as deep as the oceans, and yet in Your greatness,
You, O Eternal, offer life for every person and animal.
7 Your strong love, O True God, is precious.
All people run for shelter under the shadow of Your wings.
8 In Your house, they eat and are full at Your table.
They drink from the river of Your overflowing kindness.
9 You have the fountain of life that quenches our thirst.
Your light has opened our eyes and awakened our souls.
10 May Your love continue to grow deeply in the lives of all who know You.
May Your salvation reach every heart committed to do right.
11 Give me shelter from prideful feet that hunt me down
and wicked hands that push me from Your path.
12 It is there, far away from You, that the wicked will be forced down,
face to the earth, never again returning to their feet.
10 The proverbs of Solomon:
A wise son makes his father glad,
but a foolish one fills his mother with sorrow.
Solomon’s proverbs were originally short, pithy, easily remembered sayings brought together around certain themes. They started as oral traditions and were eventually written in a Hebrew poetic form known as parallelism. Chapters 10–15 are dominated by antithetical parallelism, meaning a statement is made in line 1 and then contrasted in line 2. Chapters 16–22 contain both synonymous and synthetic parallelism. In synonymous parallelism, the ideas in line 1 are repeated in line 2 using different words. In synthetic parallelism, later lines serve to expand, define, and elaborate the first lines.
2 Riches gained through dishonest means will eventually vanish,
but doing what is right avoids a deadly consequence.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.