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Regulations for the Lampstand and the Table of Bread
24 The Lord spoke to Moses: 2 “Command the Israelites to bring[a] to you pure oil of beaten olives for the light, to make a lamp burn continually.[b] 3 Outside the special curtain[c] of the congregation in the Meeting Tent, Aaron[d] must arrange it from evening until morning before the Lord continually. This is a perpetual statute throughout your generations.[e] 4 On the ceremonially pure lampstand[f] he must arrange the lamps before the Lord continually.
5 “You must take choice wheat flour[g] and bake twelve loaves;[h] there must be two-tenths of an ephah of flour in[i] each loaf, 6 and you must set them in two rows, six in a row,[j] on the ceremonially pure table before the Lord. 7 You must put pure frankincense[k] on each row,[l] and it will become a memorial portion[m] for the bread, a gift[n] to the Lord. 8 Each Sabbath day[o] Aaron[p] must arrange it before the Lord continually; this portion[q] is from the Israelites as a perpetual covenant. 9 It will belong to Aaron and his sons, and they must eat it in a holy place because it is most holy to him, a perpetually-allotted portion[r] from the gifts of the Lord.”
A Case of Blaspheming the Name
10 Now[s] an Israelite woman’s son whose father was an Egyptian went out among the Israelites, and the Israelite woman’s son and an Israelite man[t] had a fight in the camp. 11 The Israelite woman’s son misused the Name and cursed,[u] so they brought him to Moses. (Now his mother’s name was Shelomith, daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan.) 12 So they placed him in custody until they were able[v] to make a clear legal decision for themselves based on words from the mouth of the Lord.[w]
13 Then the Lord spoke to Moses: 14 “Bring the one who cursed outside the camp, and all who heard him are to lay their hands on his head, and the whole congregation is to stone him to death.[x] 15 Moreover,[y] you are to tell the Israelites, ‘If any man curses his God[z] he will bear responsibility for his sin, 16 and one who misuses[aa] the name of the Lord must surely be put to death. The whole congregation must surely stone him, whether he is a resident foreigner or a native citizen; when he misuses the Name he must be put to death.
17 “‘If a man beats any person to death,[ab] he must be put to death. 18 One who beats an animal to death[ac] must make restitution for it, life for life.[ad] 19 If a man inflicts an injury on[ae] his fellow citizen,[af] just as he has done it must be done to him— 20 fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth—just as he inflicts an injury on another person[ag] that same injury[ah] must be inflicted on him. 21 One who beats an animal to death[ai] must make restitution for it, but[aj] one who beats a person to death must be put to death. 22 There will be one regulation[ak] for you, whether a resident foreigner[al] or a native citizen, for I am the Lord your God.’”
23 Then Moses spoke to the Israelites and they brought the one who cursed outside the camp and stoned him with stones. So the Israelites did just as the Lord had commanded Moses.
Regulations for the Sabbatical Year
25 The Lord spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai: 2 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When you enter the land that I am giving you, the land must observe a Sabbath[am] to the Lord. 3 Six years you may sow your field, and six years you may prune your vineyard and gather the produce,[an] 4 but in the seventh year the land must have a Sabbath of complete rest[ao]—a Sabbath to the Lord. You must not sow your field or[ap] prune your vineyard. 5 You must not gather in the aftergrowth of your harvest and you must not pick the grapes of your unpruned vines;[aq] the land must have a year of complete rest. 6 You may have the Sabbath produce[ar] of the land to eat—you, your male servant, your female servant, your hired worker, the resident foreigner who stays with you,[as] 7 your cattle, and the wild animals that are in your land—all its produce will be for you[at] to eat.
Regulations for the Jubilee Year of Release
8 “‘You must count off[au] seven weeks of years, seven times seven years,[av] and the days of the seven weeks of years will amount to forty-nine years.[aw] 9 You must sound loud horn blasts[ax]—in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, on the Day of Atonement—you must sound the horn in your entire land. 10 So you must consecrate the fiftieth year,[ay] and you must proclaim a release[az] in the land for all its inhabitants. That year will be your Jubilee;[ba] each one of you must return[bb] to his property and each one of you must return to his clan. 11 That fiftieth year will be your Jubilee; you must not sow the land, harvest its aftergrowth, or pick the grapes of its unpruned vines.[bc] 12 Because that year is a Jubilee, it will be holy to you—you may eat its produce[bd] from the field.
Release of Landed Property
13 “‘In this Year of Jubilee you must each return[be] to your property. 14 If you make a sale[bf] to your fellow citizen[bg] or buy[bh] from your fellow citizen, no one is to wrong his brother.[bi] 15 You may buy it from your fellow citizen according to the number of years since[bj] the last Jubilee; he may sell it to you according to the years of produce that are left.[bk] 16 The more years there are,[bl] the more you may make its purchase price, and the fewer years there are,[bm] the less you must make its purchase price, because he is only selling to you a number of years of[bn] produce. 17 No one is to oppress his fellow citizen,[bo] but you must fear your God, because I am the Lord your God. 18 You must obey my statutes and my regulations; you must be sure to keep them[bp] so that you may live securely in the land.[bq]
19 “‘The land will give its fruit and you may eat until you are satisfied,[br] and you may live securely in the land. 20 If you say, “What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not sow and gather our produce?” 21 I will command my blessing for you in the sixth year so that it may yield[bs] the produce[bt] for three years, 22 and you may sow the eighth year and eat from that sixth year’s produce[bu]—old produce. Until you bring in the ninth year’s produce,[bv] you may eat old produce. 23 The land must not be sold without reclaim[bw] because the land belongs to me, for you are foreign residents, temporary settlers, with me.[bx] 24 In all your landed property[by] you must provide for the right of redemption of the land.[bz]
25 “‘If your brother becomes impoverished and sells some of his property, his near redeemer is to come to you and redeem what his brother sold.[ca] 26 If a man has no redeemer, but he prospers[cb] and gains enough for its redemption,[cc] 27 he is to calculate the value of the years it was sold,[cd] refund the balance[ce] to the man to whom he had sold it, and return to his property. 28 If he has not prospered enough to refund[cf] a balance to him, then what he sold[cg] will belong to[ch] the one who bought it until the Jubilee year, but it must revert[ci] in the Jubilee and the original owner[cj] may return to his property.
Release of Houses
29 “‘If a man sells a residential house in a walled city,[ck] its right of redemption must extend[cl] until one full year from its sale;[cm] its right of redemption must extend to a full calendar year.[cn] 30 If it is not redeemed before the full calendar year is ended,[co] the house in the walled city[cp] will belong without reclaim[cq] to the one who bought it throughout his generations; it will not revert in the Jubilee. 31 The houses of villages, however,[cr] which have no wall surrounding them[cs] must be considered as the field[ct] of the land; they will have the right of redemption and must revert in the Jubilee. 32 As for[cu] the cities of the Levites, the houses in the cities which they possess,[cv] the Levites must have a perpetual right of redemption. 33 Whatever someone among the Levites might redeem—the sale of a house which is his property in a city—must revert in the Jubilee,[cw] because the houses of the cities of the Levites are their property in the midst of the Israelites. 34 Moreover,[cx] the open field areas of their cities[cy] must not be sold, because that is their perpetual possession.
Debt and Slave Regulations
35 “‘If your brother[cz] becomes impoverished and is indebted to you,[da] you must support[db] him; he must live[dc] with you like a foreign resident.[dd] 36 Do not take interest or profit from him,[de] but you must fear your God and your brother must live[df] with you. 37 You must not lend him your money at interest and you must not sell him food for profit.[dg] 38 I am the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan—to be your God.[dh]
39 “‘If your brother becomes impoverished with regard to you so that he sells himself to you, you must not subject him to slave service.[di] 40 He must be with you as a hired worker, as a resident foreigner;[dj] he must serve with you until the Year of Jubilee, 41 but then[dk] he may go free,[dl] he and his children with him, and may return to his family and to the property of his ancestors.[dm] 42 Since the Israelites[dn] are my servants whom I brought out from the land of Egypt, they must not be sold in a slave sale.[do] 43 You must not rule over them harshly,[dp] but you must fear your God.
44 “‘As for your male and female slaves[dq] who may belong to you—you may buy male and female slaves from the nations all around you.[dr] 45 Also, you may buy slaves[ds] from the children of the foreigners who reside with you, and from their families that are[dt] with you, whom they have fathered in your land; they may become your property. 46 You may give them as an inheritance to your children after you to possess as property. You may enslave them perpetually. However, as for your brothers the Israelites, no man may rule over his brother harshly.[du]
Jesus and Little Children
13 Now[a] people were bringing little children to him for him to touch,[b] but the disciples scolded those who brought them.[c] 14 But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the little children come to me and do not try to stop them, for the kingdom of God[d] belongs to such as these.[e] 15 I tell you the truth,[f] whoever does not receive[g] the kingdom of God like a child[h] will never[i] enter it.” 16 After he took the children in his arms, he placed his hands on them and blessed them.
The Rich Man
17 Now[j] as Jesus[k] was starting out on his way, someone ran up to him, fell on his knees, and said, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”[l] 18 Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good?[m] No one is good except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.’”[n] 20 The man[o] said to him, “Teacher, I have wholeheartedly obeyed[p] all these laws[q] since my youth.”[r] 21 As Jesus looked at him, he felt love for him and said, “You lack one thing. Go, sell whatever you have and give the money[s] to the poor, and you will have treasure[t] in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 22 But at this statement, the man[u] looked sad and went away sorrowful, for he was very rich.[v]
23 Then[w] Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”[x] 24 The disciples were astonished at these words. But again Jesus said to them,[y] “Children, how hard it is[z] to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel[aa] to go through the eye of a needle[ab] than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 They were even more astonished and said[ac] to one another, “Then[ad] who can be saved?”[ae] 27 Jesus looked at them and replied, “This is impossible for mere humans,[af] but not for God; all things are possible for God.”
28 Peter began to speak to him, “Look,[ag] we have left everything to follow you!”[ah] 29 Jesus said, “I tell you the truth,[ai] there is no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for my sake and for the sake of the gospel 30 who will not receive in this age[aj] a hundred times as much—homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, fields, all with persecutions[ak]—and in the age to come, eternal life.[al] 31 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
9 But[a] you rejected and embarrassed us.
You did not go into battle with our armies.[b]
10 You made us retreat[c] from the enemy.
Those who hate us take whatever they want from us.[d]
11 You handed us[e] over like sheep to be eaten;
you scattered us among the nations.
12 You sold[f] your people for a pittance;[g]
you did not ask a high price for them.[h]
13 You made us[i] an object of disdain to our neighbors;
those who live on our borders taunt and insult us.[j]
14 You made us[k] an object of ridicule[l] among the nations;
foreigners treat us with contempt.[m]
15 All day long I feel humiliated[n]
and am overwhelmed with shame,[o]
16 before the vindictive enemy
who ridicules and insults me.[p]
17 All this has happened to us, even though we have not rejected you[q]
or violated your covenant with us.[r]
18 We have not been unfaithful,[s]
nor have we disobeyed your commands.[t]
19 Yet you have battered us, leaving us a heap of ruins overrun by wild dogs;[u]
you have covered us with darkness.[v]
20 If we had rejected our God,[w]
and spread out our hands in prayer to another god,[x]
21 would not God discover it,
for he knows[y] a person’s secret thoughts?[z]
22 Yet because of you[aa] we are killed all day long;
we are treated like[ab] sheep at the slaughtering block.[ac]
23 Rouse yourself! Why do you sleep, O Lord?
Wake up![ad] Do not reject us forever.
24 Why do you look the other way,[ae]
and ignore[af] the way we are oppressed and mistreated?[ag]
25 For we lie in the dirt,
with our bellies pressed to the ground.[ah]
26 Rise up and help us.
Rescue us[ai] because of your loyal love.
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